TY - JOUR
T1 - Improved search for elementary particles with fractional electric charge
AU - Mar, Nancy M.
AU - Lee, Eric R.
AU - Fleming, George R.
AU - Casey, Brendan C.K.
AU - Perl, Martin L.
AU - Garwin, Edward L.
AU - Hendricks, Charles D.
AU - Lackner, Klaus S.
AU - Shaw, Gordon L.
PY - 1996
Y1 - 1996
N2 - We have devised and demonstrated the successful operation of a low-cost, high-mass throughput technique capable of performing bulk matter searches for fractionally charged particles based on an improved Millikan liquid drop method. The method uses a stroboscopic lamp and a charge coupled device video camera to image the trajectories of silicone oil drops falling through air in the presence of a vertical, alternating electric field. The images of the trajectories are computer processed in real time, the electric charge on a drop being measured with an rms error of 0.025 of an electron charge. This error is dominated by Brownian motion. In the first use of this method, we have looked at 5 974 941 drops and found no evidence for fractional charges in 1.07 mg of oil. With 95% confidence, the concentration of isolated quarks with ±1/3e or ±2/3e in silicone oil is less than one per 2.14×1020 nucleons.
AB - We have devised and demonstrated the successful operation of a low-cost, high-mass throughput technique capable of performing bulk matter searches for fractionally charged particles based on an improved Millikan liquid drop method. The method uses a stroboscopic lamp and a charge coupled device video camera to image the trajectories of silicone oil drops falling through air in the presence of a vertical, alternating electric field. The images of the trajectories are computer processed in real time, the electric charge on a drop being measured with an rms error of 0.025 of an electron charge. This error is dominated by Brownian motion. In the first use of this method, we have looked at 5 974 941 drops and found no evidence for fractional charges in 1.07 mg of oil. With 95% confidence, the concentration of isolated quarks with ±1/3e or ±2/3e in silicone oil is less than one per 2.14×1020 nucleons.
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U2 - 10.1103/PhysRevD.53.6017
DO - 10.1103/PhysRevD.53.6017
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0000465682
SN - 1550-7998
VL - 53
SP - 6017
EP - 6032
JO - Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
JF - Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
IS - 11
ER -