dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaTesting cosmological variability of fundamental constants
| Authors | D. A. Varshalovich, A. Y. Potekhin, A. V. Ivanchik |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0004062 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0004062 |
| DOI | 10.1238/Physica.Topical.095a00076 |
Abstract
One of the topical problems of contemporary physics is a possible variability of the fundamental constants. Here we consider possible variability of two dimensionless constants which are most important for calculation of atomic and molecular spectra (in particular, the X-ray ones): the fine-structure constant \alpha=e^2/\hbar c and the proton-to-electron mass ratio \mu=m_p/m_e. Values of the physical constants in the early epochs are estimated directly from observations of quasars - the most powerful sources of radiation, whose spectra were formed when the Universe was several times younger than now. A critical analysis of the available results leads to the conclusion that present-day data do not reveal any statistically significant evidence for variations of the fundamental constants under study. The most reliable upper limits to possible variation rates at the 95% confidence level, obtained in our work, read: |\dot\alpha/\alpha| < (1.4e-14)/yr, |\dot\mu/\mu| < (1.5e-14)/yr on the average over the last ten billion years.
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"abstract": "One of the topical problems of contemporary physics is a possible variability\nof the fundamental constants. Here we consider possible variability of two\ndimensionless constants which are most important for calculation of atomic and\nmolecular spectra (in particular, the X-ray ones): the fine-structure constant\n\\alpha=e^2/\\hbar c and the proton-to-electron mass ratio \\mu=m_p/m_e. Values of\nthe physical constants in the early epochs are estimated directly from\nobservations of quasars - the most powerful sources of radiation, whose spectra\nwere formed when the Universe was several times younger than now. A critical\nanalysis of the available results leads to the conclusion that present-day data\ndo not reveal any statistically significant evidence for variations of the\nfundamental constants under study. The most reliable upper limits to possible\nvariation rates at the 95% confidence level, obtained in our work, read:\n |\\dot\\alpha/\\alpha| \u003c (1.4e-14)/yr,\n |\\dot\\mu/\\mu| \u003c (1.5e-14)/yr\n on the average over the last ten billion years.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0004062",
"authors": [
"D. A. Varshalovich",
"A. Y. Potekhin",
"A. V. Ivanchik"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atom-ph",
"astro-ph",
"physics.gen-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1238/Physica.Topical.095a00076",
"title": "Testing cosmological variability of fundamental constants",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0004062"
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