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Sensitivity coefficients to variation of fundamental constants

Atomic Physics 2018-12-06 v1

Abstract

Atoms and molecules can serve as sensitive probes of a possible variation of the fine structure constant α\alpha and electron-to-proton mass ratio μ\mu. Two types of sensitivity coefficients are often used to quantify and compare the sensitivity of different species to the variation of fundamental constants. The dimensionless coefficients KK are related to the fractional sensitivity, while dimensional factors qq are related to the absolute sensitivity. Here we discuss several common errors and misconceptions regarding these coefficients that frequently appear in the literature.

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Cite

@article{arxiv.1807.08337,
  title  = {Sensitivity coefficients to variation of fundamental constants},
  author = {M. G. Kozlov and D. Budker},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1807.08337},
  year   = {2018}
}

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3 pages