Parity non-conservation in a condensed matter system

The nuclear spin of a He$^3$ quasiparticle dissolved in superfluid He$^4$ sees an apparent magnetic field proportional to the Fermi coupling constant, the superfluid condensate density, and the electron current at the He$^3$ nucleus. Whereas the direction of the current must be parallel to the quasiparticle momentum, calculating its magnitude presents an interesting theoretical challenge because it vanishes in the Born-Oppenheimer approximation. We find the effect is too small to be observed and present our results in the hope others will be inspired to look for similar effects in other systems.

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