Nuclear electric dipole moment of 3He

A permanent electric dipole moment (EDM) of a physical system would require time-reversal (T) violation, which is equivalent to charge-conjugation-parity (CP) violation by CPT invariance. Experimental programs are currently pushing the limits on EDMs in atoms, nuclei, and the neutron to regimes of fundamental theoretical interest. Nuclear EDMs can be studied at ion storage rings with sensitivities that may be competitive with atomic and neutron measurements. Here we calculate the magnitude of the CP-violating EDM of {sup 3}He and the expected sensitivity of such a measurement to the underlying CP-violating interactions. Assuming that the coupling constants are of comparable magnitude for {pi}-, {rho}-, and {omega}-exchanges, we find that the pion-exchange contribution dominates. Finally, our results suggest that a measurement of the {sup 3}He EDM is complementary to the planned neutron and deuteron experiments, and could provide a powerful constraint for the theoretical models of the pion-nucleon P,T-violating interaction.