In a recent Physical Review C paper, scientists from the University of Washington, the University of Bonn, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, and FRIB explain how precise measurements benefit theory frameworks. Physical Review C also highlighted the paper as an Editor’s Suggestion.

Searches for new physics are often performed along the precision frontier, requiring more careful treatment of corrections previously treated approximately. For example, interpretation of high-precision measurements of beta decay require the radiative correction arising from nuclear structure that was previously estimated using oversimplified nuclear models.

In this paper, the authors carefully work out the formalism needed to use input from microscopic nuclear calculations, including a multipole expansion of the relevant matrix elements. This work prepares a path to a more rigorous theory framework and more precise limits on physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics.

The authors of the paper include Chien-Yeah Seng, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Bonn, a visiting scholar at the University of Washington, a visiting assistant professor at FRIB, and an FRIB Theory Alliance Fellow.

This material is based upon work supported by the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science Office of Nuclear Physics; the German Research Foundation; the National Natural Science Foundation of China; and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

Michigan State University (MSU) operates the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB) as a user facility for the U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science (DOE-SC), supporting the mission of the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics. User facility operation is supported by the DOE-SC Office of Nuclear Physics as one of 28 DOE-SC user facilities.

The U.S. Department of Energy Office of Science is the single largest supporter of basic research in the physical sciences in the United States and is working to address some of today’s most pressing challenges. For more information, visit energy.gov/science.