Fisher matrix forecasts for astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics2017-05-01v1General Relativity and Quantum CosmologyHigh Energy Physics - PhenomenologyHigh Energy Physics - Theory
We use Fisher Matrix analysis techniques to forecast the cosmological impact of astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant to be carried out by the forthcoming ESPRESSO spectrograph at the VLT (due for commissioning in late 2017), as well by the planned high-resolution spectrograph (currently in Phase A) for the European Extremely Large Telescope. Assuming a fiducial model without α variations, we show that ESPRESSO can improve current bounds on the E\"{o}tv\"{o}s parameter---which quantifies Weak Equivalence Principle violations---by up to two orders of magnitude, leading to stronger bounds than those expected from the ongoing tests with the MICROSCOPE satellite, while constraints from the E-ELT should be competitive with those of the proposed STEP satellite. Should an α variation be detected, these measurements will further constrain cosmological parameters, being particularly sensitive to the dynamics of dark energy.
@article{arxiv.1704.08728,
title = {Fisher matrix forecasts for astrophysical tests of the stability of the fine-structure constant},
author = {C. S. Alves and T. A. Silva and C. J. A. P. Martins and A. C. O. Leite},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1704.08728},
year = {2017}
}