Constraints on Short-Range Spin-Dependent Interactions from Scalar Spin-Spin Coupling in Deuterated Molecular Hydrogen

A comparison between existing nuclear magnetic resonance measurements and calculations of the scalar spin-spin interaction (J coupling) in deuterated molecular hydrogen yields stringent constraints on anomalous spin-dependent potentials between nucleons at the atomic scale (~1). The dimensionless coupling constant gPᵖgPN/4π associated with the exchange of pseudoscalar (axionlike) bosons between nucleons is constrained to be less than 3.6×10^-7 for boson masses in the range of 5 keV, representing improvement by a factor of 100 over previous constraints. The dimensionless coupling constant gAᵖgAN/4π associated with the exchange of an axial-vector boson between nucleons is constrained to be gAᵖgAN/4π<1.3×10^-19 for bosons of mass 1000 eV, improving constraints at this distance scale by a factor of 100 for proton-proton couplings and more than 8 orders of magnitude for neutron-proton couplings.