Shedding Light on Quantum Many-body Problems

Laser spectroscopy experiments provide a powerful tool to perform highly-effcient and precise measurements of the electromagnetic properties of quantum systems. Such experiments allow us to explore physics over a wide range of energy scales. In the atom, for example, hyperfine structure measurements give access to observables that are key for our understanding of the nuclear many-body problem: nuclear ground-state spins, electromagnetic moments, and changes in the root-mean square charge radii. Moreover, a precise knowledge of the interaction between the atomic nucleus and the surrounding electrons offers an important benchmark to test the validity of atomic many-body methods as well as weak interaction Hamiltonians commonly used in studies of fundamental symmetries. This contribution will present the recent developments that have allowed the extension of high-precision laser spectroscopy experiments in extreme region of the nuclear chart, where radioactive isotopes are produced at rates of only a few ions/s. Future experimental programs that aim to extend these techniques in atomic and molecular systems of fundamental physics interest will be presented. The relevance of these results in connection with the recent advances in nuclear, atomic and quantum chemistry theory will be discussed.