The recently concluded collaborative European project "Robust optical clocks for international timescales" (ROCIT) tackled some of the key challenges on the roadmap towards a redefinition of the SI second. This paper gives an overview of progress made on improving the robustness and automation of optical clocks and verifying their uncertainty budgets through coordinated international comparison campaigns. It also presents work on the incorporation of optical clocks into time scales, covering both their use to steer local physical time scales and their use for evaluations of hydrogen masers contributing data for the computation of International Atomic Time (TAI). The overall objective of the project was to bring European optical clocks to the stage where they could be operated routinely as secondary frequency standards, regularly contributing to TAI.

We have measured the geopotential difference between two locations separated by 457 km by comparison of two optical lattice clocks via an interferometric fiber link, utilizing the gravitational redshift of the clock transition frequency. The 87Sr clocks have been compared side-by-side before and after one of the clocks was moved to the remote location. The chronometrically measured geopotential difference of 3918.1(2.6)m2s−2 agrees with an independent geodetic determination of 3915.88(0.30)m2s−2. The uncertainty of the chronometric geopotential difference is equivalent to an uncertainty of 27cm in height. Published by the American Physical Society 2024

Ultrastable lasers are essential tools in optical frequency metrology enabling unprecedented measurement precision that impacts on fields such as atomic timekeeping, tests of fundamental physics, and geodesy. To characterise an ultrastable laser it needs to be compared with a laser of similar performance, but a suitable system may not be available locally. Here, we report a comparison of two geographically separated lasers, over the longest ever reported metrological optical fibre link network, measuring 2220 km in length, at a state-of-the-art fractional-frequency instability of 7 × 10 −17 for averaging times between 30 s and 200 s. The measurements also allow the short-term instability of the complete optical fibre link network to be directly observed without using a loop-back fibre. Based on the characterisation of the noise in the lasers and optical fibre link network over different timescales, we investigate the potential for disseminating ultrastable light to improve the performance of remote optical clocks.

We search for transient variations of the fine structure constant using data from a European network of fiber-linked optical atomic clocks. By searching for coherent variations in the recorded clock frequency comparisons across the network, we significantly improve the constraints on transient variations of the fine structure constant. For example, we constrain the variation in alpha to <5*10^-17 for transients of duration 10^3 s. This analysis also presents a possibility to search for dark matter, the mysterious substance hypothesised to explain galaxy dynamics and other astrophysical phenomena that is thought to dominate the matter density of the universe. At the current sensitivity level, we find no evidence for dark matter in the form of topological defects (or, more generally, any macroscopic objects), and we thus place constraints on certain potential couplings between the dark matter and standard model particles, substantially improving upon the existing constraints, particularly for large (>~10^4 km) objects.

We have extended the existing interferometric fibre link PTB-Strasbourg with a branch connecting the node at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) to the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) in Garching/Munich. This fibre connection enables chronometric levelling experiments between PTB and MPQ, separated by a line-of-sight distance of about 460 km. Here, we study the performance of the PTB-MPQ fibre link which mainly employs stimulated Brillouin scattering as means of amplification. We consider two configurations: a single-span loop configuration and an antiparallel configuration with frequency transfer over the two concatenated, individually stabilized forward and backward links.

Chronometrie levelling [1-3] is a technique of deriving gravitational potential differences from clock frequency comparisons allowing the determination of height differences. Interferometric optical fibre links (IFL) [4] enable chronometric levelling between distant labs housing optical clocks [5]. An IFL is a phase stabilized telecom fibre link connection establishing a fixed optical phase relationship between two locations up to ~1000 km apart [6]. To perform a chronometric levelling campaign between the stationary optical clocks of the Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt (PTB) and PTB's transportable Strontium clock [7] placed at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics (MPQ) we have established a new 940 km long IFL between the two locations. At both link ends the frequencies of the clock lasers are compared to the 1,5 pm link transfer laser via fs-combs. To enable chronometric levelling experiments at the level of 10 cm height resolution, we aim a fractional frequency uncertainty of the frequency transfer of <; 1×10 -18 for averaging times of ~40 ks. To monitor the frequency transfer over the complete 940 km long fibre link the signal is sent back from the receiving end to the sender on a second fibre, which allows an out-of-loop characterization using data of the 1880 km loop. We study two different link setups, cf. Fig. 1a: i) a single-span loop configuration with the option to tap off the signal at MPQ with a passive frequency extraction unit [8]. This setup requires monitoring at the sending end only and allows us to investigate an ultralong IFL, even longer than the previous record [9]. And ii) an antiparallel configuration of two concatenated, individually stabilized interferometric fibre links. This setup offers lower instabilities due to a decreased delay-limit [10] but requires setting up and maintaining a stabilization system at both link ends. To compensate the attenuation of the fibres we used fibre Brillouin amplifier modules (FBAM) developed inhouse providing a typical gain of > 40 dB.

Phase compensated optical fiber links enable high accuracy atomic clocks separated by thousands of kilometers to be compared with unprecedented statistical resolution. By searching for a daily variation of the frequency difference between four strontium optical lattice clocks in different locations throughout Europe connected by such links, we improve upon previous tests of time dilation predicted by special relativity. We obtain a constraint on the Robertson-Mansouri-Sexl parameter |α|≲1.1×10^{-8}, quantifying a violation of time dilation, thus improving by a factor of around 2 the best known constraint obtained with Ives-Stilwell type experiments, and by 2 orders of magnitude the best constraint obtained by comparing atomic clocks. This work is the first of a new generation of tests of fundamental physics using optical clocks and fiber links. As clocks improve, and as fiber links are routinely operated, we expect that the tests initiated in this Letter will improve by orders of magnitude in the near future.

We report on the first comparison of distant caesium fountain primary frequency standards (PFSs) via an optical fiber link. The 1415 km long optical link connects two PFSs at LNE-SYRTE (Laboratoire National de metrologie et d'Essais-SYstsme de References TempsEspace) in Paris (France) with two at PTB (Physikalisch-Technische Bundesanstalt) in Braunschweig (Germany). For a long time, these PFSs have been major contributors to accuracy of the International Atomic Time (TAI), with stated accuracies of around 3 x 10(-16). They have also been the references for a number of absolute measurements of clock transition frequencies in various optical frequency standards in view of a future redefinition of the second. The phase coherent optical frequency transfer via a stabilized telecom fiber link enables far better resolution than any other means of frequency transfer based on satellite links. The agreement for each pair of distant fountains compared is well within the combined uncertainty of a few 10(-16) for all the comparisons, which fully supports the stated PFSs' uncertainties. The comparison also includes a rubidium fountain frequency standard participating in the steering of TAI and enables a new absolute determination of the Rb-87 ground state hyperfine transition frequency with an uncertainty of 3.1 x 10(-16.)This paper is dedicated to the memory of Andre Clairon, who passed away on 24 December 2015, for his pioneering and long-lasting efforts in atomic fountains. He also pioneered optical links from as early as 1997.

The W boson angular distribution in events with high transverse momentum jets is measured using data collected by the ATLAS experiment from proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy √ s = 8 TeV at the Large Hadron Collider, corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 20 . 3 fb − 1 . The focus is on the contributions to W + jets processes from real W emission, which is achieved by studying events where a muon is observed close to a high transverse momentum jet. At small angular separations, these contributions are expected to be large. Various theoretical models of this process are compared to the data in terms of the absolute cross-section and the angular distributions of the muon from the leptonic W decay.

The centrality dependence of the mean charged-particle multiplicity as a function of pseudorapidity is measured in approximately 1 mu b(-1) of proton-lead collisions at a nucleon-nucleon centre-of-mass energy of root s(NN) = 5.02 TeV using the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. Charged particles with absolute pseudorapidity less than 2.7 are reconstructed using the ATLAS pixel detector. The p + Pb collision centrality is characterised by the total transverse energy measured in the Pb-going direction of the forward calorimeter. The charged-particle pseudorapidity distributions are found to vary strongly with centrality, with an increasing asymmetry between the proton-going and Pb-going directions as the collisions become more central. Three different estimations of the number of nucleons participating in the p + Pb collision have been carried out using the Glauber model as well as two Glauber-Gribov inspired extensions to the Glauber model. Charged-particle multiplicities per participant pair are found to vary differently for these three models, highlighting the importance of including colour fluctuations in nucleon-nucleon collisions in the modelling of the initial state of p + Pb collisions.

Leveraging the unrivalled performance of optical clocks as key tools for geo-science, for astronomy and for fundamental physics beyond the standard model requires comparing the frequency of distant optical clocks faithfully. Here, we report on the comparison and agreement of two strontium optical clocks at an uncertainty of 5 × 10 −17 via a newly established phase-coherent frequency link connecting Paris and Braunschweig using 1,415 km of telecom fibre. The remote comparison is limited only by the instability and uncertainty of the strontium lattice clocks themselves, with negligible contributions from the optical frequency transfer. A fractional precision of 3 × 10 −17 is reached after only 1,000 s averaging time, which is already 10 times better and more than four orders of magnitude faster than any previous long-distance clock comparison. The capability of performing high resolution international clock comparisons paves the way for a redefinition of the unit of time and an all-optical dissemination of the SI-second.

The ZZ production cross section in proton-proton collisions at 13 TeV center-of-mass energy is measured using 3.2 fb^{-1} of data recorded with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider. The considered Z boson candidates decay to an electron or muon pair of mass 66-116 GeV. The cross section is measured in a fiducial phase space reflecting the detector acceptance. It is also extrapolated to a total phase space for Z bosons in the same mass range and of all decay modes, giving 16.7_{-2.0}^{+2.2}(stat)+0.9/-0.7(syst)+1.0/-0.7(lumi) pb. The results agree with standard model predictions.

Measurements of the total and differential cross sections of Higgs boson production are performed using 20.3 fb$^{-1}$ of $pp$ collisions produced by the Large Hadron Collider at a center-of-mass energy of $\sqrt{s} = 8$ TeV and recorded by the ATLAS detector. Cross sections are obtained from measured $H \rightarrow \gamma \gamma$ and $H \rightarrow ZZ ^{*}\rightarrow 4\ell$ event yields, which are combined accounting for detector efficiencies, fiducial acceptances and branching fractions. Differential cross sections are reported as a function of Higgs boson transverse momentum, Higgs boson rapidity, number of jets in the event, and transverse momentum of the leading jet. The total production cross section is determined to be $\sigma_{pp \to H} = 33.0 \pm 5.3 \, ({\rm stat}) \pm 1.6 \, ({\rm sys}) \mathrm{pb}$. The measurements are compared to state-of-the-art predictions.

Citation Aad, G., B. Abbott, J. Abdallah, S. Abdel Khalek, O. Abdinov, R. Aben, B. Abi, et al. 2015. “Erratum to: Search for production of WW / WZ resonances decaying to a lepton, neutrino and jets in pp collisions at documentclass[12pt]{minimal} usepackage{amsmath} usepackage{wasysym} usepackage{amsfonts} usepackage{amssymb} usepackage{amsbsy} usepackage{mathrsfs} usepackage{upgreek} setlength{oddsidemargin}{-69pt} begin{document}$$sqrt{s}=8$$end{document}s=8 TeV with the ATLAS detector.” The European Physical Journal. C, Particles and Fields 75 (8): 370. doi:10.1140/epjc/s10052-0153593-4. http://dx.doi.org/10.1140/epjc/s10052-015-3593-4.

This paper presents cross sections for the production of a W boson in association with jets, measured in proton–proton collisions at √ s = 7 TeV with the ATLAS experiment at the large hadron collider. With an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb−1, this data set allows for an exploration of a large kinematic range, including jet production up to a transverse momentum of 1 TeV and multiplicities up to seven associated jets. The production cross sections for W bosons are measured in both the electron and muon decay channels. Differential cross sections for many observables are also presented including measurements of the jet observables such as the rapidities and the transverse momenta as well as measurements of event observables such as the scalar sums of the transverse momenta of the jets. The measurements are compared to numerous QCD predictions including next-toleading-order perturbative calculations, resummation calculations and Monte Carlo generators.