Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Truppe, S
• Hendricks, R J
• Tokunaga, S K
• Lewandowski, H J
• Kozlov, M G
• Henkel, Christian
• Hinds, E A
• Tarbutt, M R

Titel

A search for varying fundamental constants using hertz-level frequency measurements of cold CH molecules

Ist Teil von

• Nature communications, 2013-10, Vol.4 (1), p.2600-2600, Article 2600

Ort / Verlag

England: Nature Publishing Group

Erscheinungsjahr

2013

Link zum Volltext

Quelle

Elektronische Zeitschriftenbibliothek - Frei zugängliche E-Journals

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• Many modern theories predict that the fundamental constants depend on time, position or the local density of matter. Here we develop a spectroscopic method for pulsed beams of cold molecules, and use it to measure the frequencies of microwave transitions in CH with accuracy down to 3 Hz. By comparing these frequencies with those measured from sources of CH in the Milky Way, we test the hypothesis that fundamental constants may differ between the high- and low-density environments of the Earth and the interstellar medium. For the fine structure constant we find Δα/α=(0.3 ± 1.1) × 10⁻⁷, the strongest limit to date on such a variation of α. For the electron-to-proton mass ratio we find Δμ/μ=(-0.7 ± 2.2) × 10⁻⁷. We suggest how dedicated astrophysical measurements can improve these constraints further and can also constrain temporal variation of the constants.