Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Bagdonaite, Julija
• Jansen, Paul
• Henkel, Christian
• Bethlem, Hendrick L.
• Menten, Karl M.
• Ubachs, Wim

Titel

A Stringent Limit on a Drifting Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio from Alcohol in the Early Universe

Ist Teil von

• Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science), 2013-01, Vol.339 (6115), p.46-48

Ort / Verlag

United States: American Association for the Advancement of Science

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

American Association for the Advancement of Science

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The standard model of physics is built on the fundamental constants of nature, but it does not provide an explanation for their values, nor require their constancy over space and time. Here we set a limit on a possible cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ by comparing transitions in methanol observed in the early universe with those measured in the laboratory. From radio-astronomical observations of PKS1830-211, we deduced a constraint of Δμ/μ = (0.0 ± 1.0) × 10 -7 at redshift z = 0.89, corresponding to a look-back time of 7 billion years. This is consistent with a null result.