ERC Advanced grant for Wim Ubachs
FOM workgroup leader Wim Ubachs has received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council (ERC) worth 2.5 million euros for his research proposal entitled: 'Physics Beyond the Standard Model from Molecules', in which he proposes carrying out extremely precise laser measurements on the hydrogen molecule (at the LaserLaB, VU University Amsterdam) as well as observations of molecules in space using optical and radio telescopes.
The aim is to test modern physics theories and to find possible deviations that will teach us something about the existence of extra dimensions and whether natural laws vary over time or depend on circumstances (such as strong gravitational fields).
Summary of the research proposal
"The standard model of physics is incomplete. Gravity is not understood at the quantum level, dark matter and dark energy are not explained, and (string) theories searching to cover these shortcomings are only consistent in higher-dimensional spaces, while only four of those dimensions are observed. The mystery of finely tuned strengths of the fundamental forces, providing us with a universe of complexity, remains unexplained. This calls for new physics that can also be explored at the atomic scale in the low energy domain. That is the paradigm underlying the present proposal: effects of new physics – either related to hitherto unknown particles or to symmetry-breaking phenomena – will manifest themselves as minute shifts in the quantum level structures of atoms and molecules, in minute drifts over time or dependencies on environmental conditions.
I propose to perform precision metrology measurements on the H2 molecule in a search of new physics. Deviations between experimental results and QED theory will scan unexplored territory beyond the standard model. Molecular metrology results of the fundamental ground tone vibration in H2 will be confronted with QED-theory calculations to search for the existence of new forces at the Angström length scale. If extra dimensions beyond the known 3+1 would be compactified at the same length scale of 1 Å, this would lead to strongly enhanced gravitational effects, measurable in a molecule. Our current research on experimental probes for varying constants on a cosmological timescale, is redirected into the investigation of chameleon scenarios. We will study H2 molecules in white dwarf stars with the help of UV astronomy and methanol molecules in our own galaxy with the help of radio astronomy to search for a possible dependence of fundamental constants on strong gravity or on density.
If any of these targeted phenomena could be uncovered this would have a considerable impact on science as a whole, and on our view on the universe and its origin."
About Wim Ubachs
Wim Ubachs is a professor at VU University Amsterdam, group leader at the Advanced Research Center for Nanolithography (ARCNL) and leads the Vrije FOM-programma 'Broken mirrors & drifting constants' that started in 2011.