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New Limits on Coupling of Fundamental Constants to Gravity Using $^{87}$Sr Optical Lattice Clocks

Atomic Physics 2008-11-26 v3 General Physics

Abstract

The 1S0^1\mathrm{S}_0-3P0^3\mathrm{P}_0 clock transition frequency νSr\nu_\text{Sr} in neutral 87^{87}Sr has been measured relative to the Cs standard by three independent laboratories in Boulder, Paris, and Tokyo over the last three years. The agreement on the 1×10151\times 10^{-15} level makes νSr\nu_\text{Sr} the best agreed-upon optical atomic frequency. We combine periodic variations in the 87^{87}Sr clock frequency with 199^{199}Hg+^+ and H-maser data to test Local Position Invariance by obtaining the strongest limits to date on gravitational-coupling coefficients for the fine-structure constant α\alpha, electron-proton mass ratio μ\mu and light quark mass. Furthermore, after 199^{199}Hg+^+, 171^{171}Yb+^+ and H, we add 87^{87}Sr as the fourth optical atomic clock species to enhance constraints on yearly drifts of α\alpha and μ\mu.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.0801.1874,
  title  = {New Limits on Coupling of Fundamental Constants to Gravity Using $^{87}$Sr Optical Lattice Clocks},
  author = {S. Blatt and A. D. Ludlow and G. K. Campbell and J. W. Thomsen and T. Zelevinsky and M. M. Boyd and J. Ye and X. Baillard and M. Fouché and R. Le Targat and A. Brusch and P. Lemonde and M. Takamoto and F. -L. Hong and H. Katori and V. V. Flambaum},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:0801.1874},
  year   = {2008}
}

Comments

Published version. 4 pages, 4 figures