Relativistic Many-Body Theory of Electric Dipole Moment of Atoms Due to Parity and Time Reversal Violation

For a non-degenerate quantum mechanical system to possess a permanent electric dipole moment (EDM), there must be a simultaneous violation of parity (P) and time-reversal (T) symmetries [1]. Since P-violation in weak interactions is now well-established, the significance of observing a permanent EDM is that it would be a direct confirmation of T violation. An atomic EDM can arise due to: (i)Intrinsic EDM on an electron(ii)P and T violating electron-nucleon interaction(iii)P and T violating electron-electron interaction(iv)Intrinsic EDM on a nucleon(v)P and T violating nucleon-nucleon interaction While all of the above-mentioned sources of atomic EDM are interesting in their own right, I shall concentrate only on the first case. Several particle physics models which call for CP violation in the lepton sector predict an intrinsic electric dipole moment of the electron [2].