Calculation of the parity-violating 5s-6s E1 amplitude in the rubidium atom

Currently, the theoretical uncertainty limits the interpretation of the atomic parity-nonconservation (PNC) measurements. We calculate the PNC 5s-6s electric dipole transition amplitude in rubidium and demonstrate that rubidium is a good candidate to search for new physics beyond the standard model since accuracy of the atomic calculations in rubidium can be higher than in cesium. PNC in cesium is currently the best low-energy test of the standard model; therefore, similar measurements for rubidium present a good option for further progress in the field. We also calculate the nuclear spin-dependent part of the PNC amplitude, which is needed for the extraction of the nuclear anapole moment from the PNC measurements. DOI:10.1103/PhysRevA.86.062512