Atomic theory in cesium, implications for searches for physics beyond the standard model

The goals of high-precision atomic parity violation (APV) studies are to search for new physics beyond the standard model of the electroweak interaction by accurate determination of the weak charge and to probe parity violation in the nucleus. Interpretation of all past APV experiments and some of the ongoing ones requires theoretical calculations. The current status and future prospects of atomic parity violation studies and the implications for searches for physics beyond the standard model are discussed. Recent accurate calculation of the nuclear spin-dependent parity-violating amplitude is described. The new result still leads to the discrepancy between constraints on weak nucleon-nucleon coupling obtained from the cesium anapole moment and those obtained from other nuclear PV measurements.