English

Precision Spectroscopy of Atomic Hydrogen and Variations of Fundamental Constants

Atomic Physics 2017-08-23 v2

Abstract

In 2003 we have measured the absolute frequency of the (1S,F=1,mF=±1)(2S,F=1,mF=±1)(1S, F=1, m_F=\pm 1) \leftrightarrow (2S, F'=1, m_F'=\pm 1) two-photon transition in atomic hydrogen. We observed a variation of (29±57)(-29\pm 57) Hz over a 44 months interval separating this measurement from the previous one performed in 1999. We have combined this result with recently published results of optical transition frequency measurement in the 199^{199}Hg+^+ ion and and comparison between clocks based on 87^{87}Rb and 133^{133}Cs. From this combination we deduce the stringent limits for fractional time variation of the fine structure constant /t(lnα)=(0.9±4.2)×1015\partial/{\partial t}(\ln \alpha)=(-0.9\pm 4.2)\times 10^{-15} yr1^{-1} and for the ratio of 87^{87}Rb and 133^{133}Cs spin magnetic moments /t(ln[μRb/μCs])=(0.5±2.1)×1015\partial/{\partial t}(\ln[\mu_{\rm {Rb}}/\mu_{\rm {Cs}}])=(0.5\pm 2.1)\times 10^{-15} yr1^{-1}. This is the first precise restriction for the fractional time variation of α\alpha made without assumptions about the relative drifts of the constants of electromagnetic, strong and weak interactions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.physics/0311128,
  title  = {Precision Spectroscopy of Atomic Hydrogen and Variations of Fundamental Constants},
  author = {M. Fischer and N. Kolachevsky and M. Zimmermann and R. Holzwarth and Th. Udem and T. W. Hänsch and M. Abgrall and J. Grünert and I. Maksimovic and S. Bize and H. Marion and F. Pereira Dos Santos and P. Lemonde and G. Santarelli and P. Laurent and A. Clairon and C. Salomon},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:physics/0311128},
  year   = {2017}
}

Comments

18 pages, 10 figures, invited talk