English

Improved tests of Local Position Invariance using 87Rb and 133Cs fountains

Atomic Physics 2012-08-23 v2

Abstract

We report tests of local position invariance based on measurements of the ratio of the ground state hyperfine frequencies of 133Cs and 87Rb in laser-cooled atomic fountain clocks. Measurements extending over 14 years set a stringent limit to a possible variation with time of this ratio: d ln(nu_Rb/nu_Cs)/dt=(-1.39 +/- 0.91)x 10-16 yr-1. This improves by a factor of 7.7 over our previous report (H. Marion et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 90, 150801 (2003)). Our measurements also set the first limit to a fractional variation of the Rb/Cs ratio with gravitational potential at the level of c^2 d ln(nu_Rb/nu_Cs)/dU=(0.11 +/- 1.04)x 10^-6, providing a new stringent differential redshift test. The above limits equivalently apply to the fractional variation of the quantity alpha^{-0.49}x(g_Rb/g_Cs), which involves the fine structure constant alpha and the ratio of the nuclear g-factors of the two alkalis. The link with variations of the light quark mass is also presented together with a global analysis combining with other available highly accurate clock comparisons.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1205.4235,
  title  = {Improved tests of Local Position Invariance using 87Rb and 133Cs fountains},
  author = {Jocelyne Guéna and Michel Abgrall and Daniele Rovera and Peter Rosenbusch and Michael E. Tobar and Philippe Laurent and André Clairon and Sébastien Bize},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1205.4235},
  year   = {2012}
}

Comments

5 pages, 3 figures, 3 tables, 34 references