Searching for Hadronic CP Violation in Deformed 173Yb with Polyatomic Molecules

The fact that the universe is made entirely out of matter, and contains no free anti-matter, has no physical explanation.  While we cannot currently say what process created the matter in the universe, we know that it must violate CP symmetry, and will induce CP-violating electromagnetic moments in regular matter.  We can search for signatures of these electromagnetic moments via precision measurements in polar molecules, whose extremely large internal electromagnetic fields can significantly amplify these moments.  These effects would  arise from physics beyond the Standard Model, which enables tabletop searches for new, symmetry-violating particles and forces.  With modern, quantum science techniques to control polar molecules, these searches can currently reach into the TeV scale, and offer a route to the PeV scale through advanced cooling and trapping techniques.  I will discuss a new experiment being developed at Caltech to use polyatomic 173YbOH to search for hadronic CP violation via the nuclear magnetic quadrupole moment of the deformed 173Yb nucleus, which is sensitive to a wide variety of CP-violating sources beyond the Standard Model.