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Demonstration of Deuterium’s Enhanced Sensitivity to Symmetry Violations Governed by the Standard-Model Extension

A. Nanda1,2, D. Comparat3, O. Dulieu3, S. Lahs3,*, C. Malbrunot4,5,6, L. Nowak1,2, M. C. Simon1,†,‡, and E. Widmann1,‡

  • *Present address: Vienna Center for Quantum Science and Technology, Atominstitut, TU Wien 1020, Vienna, Austria.
  • †Contact author: martin.simon@oeaw.ac.at
  • ‡Present address: Marietta Blau Institute for Particle Physics, Dominikanerbastei 16, 1010 Vienna, Austria.
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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 031802 – Published 14 July, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/dqvd-15q4

Abstract

We have performed hyperfine spectroscopy of two transitions in ground-state deuterium and searched for violations of CPT and Lorentz symmetry that would manifest as sidereal variations of the observed transition frequencies. Several nonrelativistic proton coefficients of the Standard-Model extension framework have been addressed. The spin-independent coefficients with momentum power k=2, 4 are constrained for the first time. Bounds on spin-dependent coefficients are improved by exploiting a sensitivity enhancement originating from the relative momenta of the nucleons in the deuteron. The best previous constraints by hydrogen maser measurements are surpassed by 4 and 14 orders of magnitude for coefficients with k=2 and 4, respectively.

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Phys. Rev. Lett. 137, 031802– Published 14 July, 2026
  • Received 10 July 2025
  • Revised 20 February 2026
  • Accepted 15 May 2026
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