https://doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-024-13510-1
Regular Article - Experimental Physics
Search for Pauli Exclusion Principle violations with Gator at LNGS
1
Physik-Institut, University of Zürich, Winterthurerstrasse 190, 8057, Zurich, Switzerland
2
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
3
INFN, Laboratori Nazionali di Frascati, Via E. Fermi 54, 00044, Rome, Italy
4
Centro Ricerche Enrico Fermi-Museo Storico della Fisica e Centro Studi e Ricerche “Enrico Fermi”, 00184, Rome, Italy
a
alexander.bismark@physik.uzh.ch
b
napolitano.fabrizio@lnf.infn.it
Received:
12
August
2024
Accepted:
14
October
2024
Published online:
2
November
2024
The Pauli Exclusion Principle (PEP) appears from fundamental symmetries in quantum field theories, but its physical origin is still to be understood. High-precision experimental searches for small PEP violations permit testing key assumptions of the Standard Model with high sensitivity. We report on a dedicated measurement with Gator, a low-background, high-purity germanium detector operated at the Laboratori Nazionali del Gran Sasso, aimed at testing PEP-violating atomic transitions in lead. The experimental technique, relying on forming a new symmetry state by introducing electrons into the pre-existing electron system through a direct current, satisfies the conditions of the Messiah-Greenberg superselection rule. No PEP violation has been observed, and an upper limit on the PEP violation probability of 
(90% CL) is set. This improves the previous constraint from a comparable measurement by more than one order of magnitude.
© The Author(s) 2024
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Funded by SCOAP3.
