In search of the electron dipole moment: Ab initio calculations on ^207PbO excited states

Abstract

We report ab initio correlated relativistic calculations of the effective electric field W_d acting on the electron in two excited electronic states of PbO, required for extracting the electric dipole moment of the electron from an ongoing experiment at Yale, which has the potential of improving accuracy for this elusive property by several orders of magnitude. The generalized relativistic effective core potential and relativistic coupled cluster methods are used, followed by nonvariational one-center restoration of the four-component wavefunction in the heavy atom core. W_d is -3.2\times 10^24 Hz/ecm for the a(1) state and -9.7\times 10^24 Hz/ecm for the B(1) state. Comparison of calculated and experimental values of the hyperfine constant A_{\parallel} provides an accuracy check for the calculation.