dorsal/arxiv
View SchemaCold Molecule Spectroscopy for Constraining the Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant
| Authors | Eric R. Hudson, H. J. Lewandowski, Brian C. Sawyer, Jun Ye |
|---|---|
| Categories | |
| ArXiv ID | physics/0601054 |
| URL | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0601054 |
| DOI | 10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.143004 |
Abstract
We report precise measurements of ground-state, $\lambda$-doublet microwave transitions in the hydroxyl radical molecule (OH). Utilizing slow, cold molecules produced by a Stark decelerator we have improved over the precision of the previous best measurement by twenty-five-fold for the F' = 2 $\to$ F = 2 transition, yielding (1 667 358 996 $\pm$ 4) Hz, and by ten-fold for the F' = 1 $\to$ F = 1 transition, yielding (1 665 401 803 $\pm$ 12) Hz. Comparing these laboratory frequencies to those from OH megamasers in interstellar space will allow a sensitivity of 1 ppm for $\Delta\alpha/\alpha$ over $\sim$$10^{10}$ years.
{
"annotation_id": "99bdfa10-f8ca-4220-9e2e-1f3111814107",
"date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:03.421000Z",
"date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:03.421000Z",
"file_hash": "bf097685ec1614e8baca70f01a2c2ff109a3b2f6ea712adde6a6f5af6e419ba3",
"private": false,
"record": {
"abstract": "We report precise measurements of ground-state, $\\lambda$-doublet microwave\ntransitions in the hydroxyl radical molecule (OH). Utilizing slow, cold\nmolecules produced by a Stark decelerator we have improved over the precision\nof the previous best measurement by twenty-five-fold for the F\u0027 = 2 $\\to$ F = 2\ntransition, yielding (1 667 358 996 $\\pm$ 4) Hz, and by ten-fold for the F\u0027 = 1\n$\\to$ F = 1 transition, yielding (1 665 401 803 $\\pm$ 12) Hz. Comparing these\nlaboratory frequencies to those from OH megamasers in interstellar space will\nallow a sensitivity of 1 ppm for $\\Delta\\alpha/\\alpha$ over $\\sim$$10^{10}$\nyears.",
"arxiv_id": "physics/0601054",
"authors": [
"Eric R. Hudson",
"H. J. Lewandowski",
"Brian C. Sawyer",
"Jun Ye"
],
"categories": [
"physics.atom-ph",
"physics.gen-ph"
],
"doi": "10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.143004",
"title": "Cold Molecule Spectroscopy for Constraining the Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant",
"url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0601054"
},
"schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
"source": {
"execution_id": "c9f424f2-1021-4d21-b38a-031817c28c2b",
"id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
"type": "Model",
"variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
"version": "0.1.0"
},
"user_id": 1000002
}