The paper, “First non-zero measurement of a nuclear electric dipole moment (EDM),” is an end point to a story that began with a grant application to measure subatomic EDMs with a new superconductivity effect. That grant was rejected by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) where I worked and I was laid off for lack of funding.

Having carefully considered and answered all the theoretical objections to the concept I had received, the experiment was self-financed, designed and completed over six years.

The resulting EDM paper was first submitted to the arXiv on October 16, 2025 and immediately faced an unexpected obstacle.

A Study in Contrasts

The submission process to the arXiv has changed drastically since my time as a Research Scientist at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).

• In 2016: My last arXiv submission was processed and published the very next day.
• In 2025: This EDM paper was immediately flagged for moderation. It remained in limbo for 11 days before finally being published under nucl-ex on October 27, 2025.

The Conflict at Physical Review C (PRC)

This initial delay foreshadowed the ongoing struggle at Physical Review C (PRC), where the paper is currently undergoing its final appeal to the APS Editor in Chief. The first rejection by the PRC Chief Editor did not follow APS policy. That rejection was appealed to the APS Editor in Chief but that appeal was sent to a PRC Board Member, Dr. David Dean, who rejected it. Upon review, I found the rejection to be fundamentally flawed for two critical reasons:

1. Scientific Integrity: Dr. Dean’s rejection was based on an extraordinarily flawed argument that a nucleus can never be described as a point particle with an EDM. Point-like descriptions of composite particles with non-zero EDM, e.g. neutrons, at low energies is not novel to my paper, and date to at least the 1960’s in both classical and quantum physics. This deep misunderstanding of point particles contradicts the APS core value regarding the critical importance of scientific thinking. See Dr. Dean’s report and my response.
2. Professionalism: The tone of the report was dismissive, violating the APS core value of Respect.

A Matter of Public Interest

Because the integrity of the peer-review process is vital to the scientific community, I am making my appeals publicly available. The handling of this paper by the PRC Editorial Board raises significant questions about how groundbreaking nuclear research is vetted and managed.

As LOISAT is an explicitly anti-racist organization, we must also examine whether systemic bias played a role in the abrupt interruption of my paper’s review.

To address this, one must move beyond the definition of racism as mere personal prejudice and view it as a structural system that produced profound wealth and education disparities over centuries. The result is a documented and dismal underrepresentation of scientists of Black African descent within the field—and an even more pronounced absence of Black physics editors.

As a result, it is critically important to document and debunk the justifications provided by the PRC Editors for halting the review process, regardless of the outcome for my paper, to ensure that systemic barriers do not go unchallenged in scientific publishing.

Why This Paper is Groundbreaking

The measurement of the tantalum nuclear EDM presented in this paper offers a transformative perspective on particle physics.

The findings suggest that nuclear, proton, and neutron EDMs may be entirely accounted for within the Standard Model, provided one assumes they are all of the same order of magnitude—a relationship already established for their respective magnetic dipole moments.

This interpretation carries profound implications for the field:

• Experimental Limits: The Standard Model estimate for the neutron EDM is orders of magnitude below the sensitivity of current Larmor frequency experiments. If the Standard Model indeed explains these moments, it may raise difficult questions regarding the future of large-scale grant allotments for experiments searching for physics beyond this limit.
• Challenges to Supersymmetry (SUSY): These results directly challenge many supersymmetric theories. Most SUSY models predict a neutron EDM significantly larger than the Standard Model limit; if the Standard Model accounts for the observed EDM, these extended theories are undermined.
• New Material Bulk Property and Superconductivity Phenomenon: The nuclear EDM is a new, measurable bulk property of materials that has lead to a fundamentally new superconductivity effect and new technology patents.