Dr Benjamin Roberts
ARC DECRA Fellow
Physics
Physics Annexe (06), Room 427

Researcher biography
Working in theoretical atomic physics and particle astrophysics. My research focusses on high-precision atomic structure calculations, and how atomic processes can be used for testing fundamental theories, probing for physics beyond the standard model, and searching for dark matter.
Journal Articles
Roberts, B. M., Ranclaud, P. G. and Ginges, J. S. M. (2022). Bohr-Weisskopf effect: from hydrogenlike-ion experiments to heavy-atom calculations of the hyperfine structure. Physical Review A, 105 (5) 052802. doi: 10.1103/physreva.105.052802
Roberts, B. M. and Ginges, J. S. M. (2022). Comment on “New physics constraints from atomic parity violation in 133Cs ”. Physical Review D, 105 (1) 018301. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.105.018301
Roberts, B. M. and Ginges, J. S. M. (2021). Hyperfine anomaly in heavy atoms and its role in precision atomic searches for new physics. Physical Review A, 104 (2) 022823. doi: 10.1103/physreva.104.022823
Roberts, Benjamin M. and Derevianko, Andrei (2021). Precision measurement noise asymmetry and its annual modulation as a dark matter signature. Universe, 7 (3) 50, 50. doi: 10.3390/universe7030050
Savalle, Etienne, Hees, Aurélien, Frank, Florian, Cantin, Etienne, Pottie, Paul-Eric, Roberts, Benjamin M., Cros, Lucie, McAllister, Ben T. and Wolf, Peter (2021). Searching for dark matter with an optical cavity and an uequal-delay interferometer. Physical Review Letters, 126 (5) 051301, 051301. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.126.051301
Roberts, B. M. and Ginges, J. S. M. (2020). Nuclear magnetic moments of Francium-207–213 from precision hyperfine comparisons. Physical Review Letters, 125 (6) 063002, 063002. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.125.063002
Roberts, Benjamin M, Delva, Pacome, Al-Masoudi, Ali, Amy-Klein, Anne, Baerentsen, Christian, Baynham, Charles, Benkler, Erik, Bilicki, Sŀawomir, Bize, Sebastien, Bowden, William, Calvert, J, Cambier, Valentin, Cantin, Etienne, Curtis, Elizabeth Anne, Dörscher, Sören, Favier, Maxime, Frank, Florian, Gill, Patrick, Godun, R M, Grosche, Gesine, Guo, Changlei, Hees, Aurelien, Hill, Ian Robert, Hobson, Richard, Huntemann, Nils, Kronjaeger, Jochen, Koke, Sebastian, Kuhl, Alexander, Lange, Richard ... Wolf, Peter (2020). Search for transient variations of the fine structure constant and dark matter using fiber-linked optical atomic clocks. New Journal of Physics, 22 (9) 093010, 093010. doi: 10.1088/1367-2630/abaace
Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V. and Roberts, B. M. (2020). Erratum: Calculations of the atomic structure for the low-lying states of actinium [Phys. Rev. A 100
, 022504 (2019)]. Physical Review A, 101 (5) 059901. doi: 10.1103/physreva.101.059901
Hees, A., Do, T., Roberts, B. M., Ghez, A. M., Nishiyama, S., Bentley, R. O., Gautam, A. K., Jia, S., Kara, T., Lu, J. R., Saida, H., Sakai, S., Takahashi, M. and Takamori, Y. (2020). Search for a variation of the fine structure constant around the supermassive black hole in our Galactic Center. Physical Review Letters, 124 (8) 081101, 081101. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.124.081101
Panelli, Guglielmo, Roberts, Benjamin M. and Derevianko, Andrei (2020). Applying the matched-filter technique to the search for dark matter transients with networks of quantum sensors. EPJ Quantum Technology, 7 (1) 5. doi: 10.1140/epjqt/s40507-020-00081-9
Grunefeld, S. J., Roberts, B. M. and Ginges, J. S. M. (2019). Correlation trends in the hyperfine structure for Rb, Cs, and Fr, and high-accuracy predictions for hyperfine constants. Physical Review A, 100 (4) 042506, 042506. doi: 10.1103/physreva.100.042506
Roberts, B. M. and Flambaum, V. V. (2019). Electron-interacting dark matter: implications from DAMA/LIBRA-phase2 and prospects for liquid xenon detectors and NaI detectors. Physical Review D, 100 (6) 063017. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.100.063017
Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V. and Roberts, B. M. (2019). Calculations of the atomic structure for the low-lying states of actinium. Physical Review A, 100 (2) 022504. doi: 10.1103/physreva.100.022504
Roberts, B. M., Blewitt, G., Dailey, C. and Derevianko, A. (2018). Search for transient ultralight dark matter signatures with networks of precision measurement devices using a Bayesian statistics method. Physical Review D, 97 (8) 083009. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.97.083009
Roberts, Benjamin M., Blewitt, Geoffrey, Dailey, Conner, Murphy, Mac, Pospelov, Maxim, Rollings, Alex, Sherman, Jeff, Williams, Wyatt and Derevianko, Andrei (2017). Search for domain wall dark matter with atomic clocks on board global positioning system satellites. Nature Communications, 8 (1) 1195. doi: 10.1038/s41467-017-01440-4
Flambaum, V. V., Roberts, B. M. and Stadnik, Y. V. (2017). Comment on "Axion induced oscillating electric dipole moments". Physical Review D, 95 (5) 058701. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevD.95.058701
Roberts, B. M., Flambaum, V. V. and Gribakin, G. F. (2016). Comment on "Ionization of Atoms by Slow Heavy Particles, Including Dark Matter" Reply. Physical Review Letters, 117 (8) 089302. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.117.089302
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V., Pospelov, M. and Stadnik, Y. V. (2016). Dark matter scattering on electrons: Accurate calculations of atomic excitations and implications for the DAMA signal. Physical Review D, 93 (11) 115037. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.93.115037
Roberts, B. M., Flambaum, V. V. and Gribakin, G. F. (2016). Ionization of Atoms by Slow Heavy Particles, Including Dark Matter. Physical Review Letters, 116 (2) e023201. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.116.023201
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A. and Flambaum, V. V. (2015). Parity and Time-Reversal Violation in Atomic Systems. Annual Review of Nuclear and Particle Science, Vol 65, 65 (1), 63-86. doi: 10.1146/annurev-nucl-102014-022331
Roberts, B. M., Stadnik, Y. V., Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V., Leefer, N. and Budker, D. (2014). Parity-violating interactions of cosmic fields with atoms, molecules, and nuclei: Concepts and calculations for laboratory searches and extracting limits. Physical Review D, 90 (9) 096005. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.90.096005
Stadnik, Y. V., Roberts, B. M. and Flambaum, V. V. (2014). Tests of CPT and Lorentz symmetry from muon anomalous magnetic dipole moment. Physical Review D, 90 (4) 045035. doi: 10.1103/physrevd.90.045035
Roberts, B. M., Stadnik, Y. V., Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V., Leefer, N. and Budker, D (2014). Limiting P-odd interactions of cosmic fields with electrons, protons, and neutrons. Physical Review Letters, 113 (8) 081601, 081601. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.113.081601
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A. and Flambaum, V. V. (2014). Strongly enhanced atomic parity violation due to close levels of opposite parity. Physical Review A, 89 (4) 042509. doi: 10.1103/physreva.89.042509
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A. and Flambaum, V. V. (2014). Nuclear-spin-dependent parity nonconservation in s-d5/2 and s-d3/2 transitions. Physical Review A, 89 (1) 012502. doi: 10.1103/physreva.89.012502
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A. and Flambaum, V. V. (2013). Double-core-polarization contribution to atomic parity-nonconservation and electric-dipole-moment calculations. Physical Review A, 88 (4) 042507. doi: 10.1103/physreva.88.042507
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A. and Flambaum, V. (2013). Parity nonconservation in Fr-like actinide and Cs-like rare-earth-metal ions. Physical Review A, 88 (1) 012510. doi: 10.1103/physreva.88.012510
Roberts, B. M., Dzuba, V. A. and Flambaum, V. V. (2013). Quantum electrodynamics corrections to energies, transition amplitudes, and parity nonconservation in Rb, Cs, Ba+, Tl, Fr, and Ra+. Physical Review A, 87 (5) 054502 doi: 10.1103/physreva.87.054502
Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V. and Roberts, B. (2012). Calculation of the parity-violating 5s-6s E1 amplitude in the rubidium atom. Physical Review A, 86 (6) 062512. doi: 10.1103/physreva.86.062512
Dzuba, V. A., Berengut, J. C., Flambaum, V. V. and Roberts, B. (2012). Revisiting Parity Nonconservation in Cesium. Physical Review Letters, 109 (20) 203003. doi: 10.1103/physrevlett.109.203003
Conference Papers
Hees, A., Minazzoli, O., Savalle, E., Stadnik, Y. V., Wolf, P. and Roberts, B. (2019). Violation of the equivalence principle from light scalar fields: From dark matter candidates to scalarized black holes. Rencontres de Moriond, La Thuile, Valle d'Aosta, Italy, 23-30 March 2019. La Thuile, Valle d'Aosta, Italy: ARISF.
Savalle, E., Roberts, Benjamin M., Frank, Florian, Pottie, Paul-Eric, McAllister, Ben T., Dailey, Conner B., Derevianko, Andrei and Wolf, P. (2019). The damned experiment: dark matter from non equal delays. Rencontres de Moriond, La Thuile, Valle d'Aosta, Italy, 23-30 March 2019. La Thuile, Valle d'Aosta, Italy: ARISF.
Savalle, E., Roberts, Ben R., Frank, Florian, Pottie, Paul-Eric, McAllister, Ben T., Dailey, Conner B., Derevianko, Andrei and Wolf, P. (2019). DAMNED - DArk Matter from Non Equal Delays New test of the fundamental constants variation. Joint Conference of the IEEE International Frequency Control Symposium / Conference of the European Frequency and Time Forum (EFTF/IFC), Orlando, FL United States, 14-18 April 2019. Piscataway, NJ, United States: Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers. doi: 10.1109/FCS.2019.8856056
Flambaum, V. V., Dzuba, V. A., Pospelov, M., Derevianko, A. and Roberts, B. (2015). Atomic ionization by dark matter particles. 29th International Conference on Photonic, Electronic, and Atomic Collisions (ICPEAC), Toledo, Spain, 22-28 July 2015. Bristol, United Kingdom: Institute of Physics Publishing. doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/635/2/022012
Roberts, Benjamin M., Stadnik, Yevgeny V., Flambaum, Victor V. and Dzuba, Vladimir A. (2015). Searching for axion dark matter in atoms: oscillating electric dipole moments and spin-precession effects. Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, Zaragoza, Spain, 22-26 June 2015. Hamburg, Germany: Verlag Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron. doi: 10.3204/DESY-PROC-2015-02/robertsbenjaminaxions
Roberts, B. M., Stadnik, Y. V., Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V., Leefer, N. and Budker, D. (2015). New atomic methods for dark matter detection. 29th International Conference on Photonic, Electronic and Atomic Collisions, ICPEAC 2015, Toledo, Spain, 22-28 July 2015. Bristol, United Kingdom: Institute of Physics Publishing. doi: 10.1088/1742-6596/635/2/022033
Stadnik, Yevgeny V., Roberts, Benjamin M., Flambaum, Victor V. and Dzuba, Vladimir A. (2015). Searching for scalar dark matter in atoms and astrophysical phenomena: variation of fundamental constants. Patras Workshop on Axions, WIMPs and WISPs, Zaragoza, Spain, 22-26 June 2015. Hamburg, Germany: Verlag Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron. doi: 10.3204/DESY-PROC-2015-02/robertsbenjamin