Related papers: Laboratory atomic transition data for precise opti…
Ionizing sources embedded in the neutral intergalactic medium (IGM) before cosmological reionization generate discrete HII regions. We show that a sufficiently bright quasar (for example, one tenth as luminous as that recently discovered by…
We report empirical determinations of atomic oscillator strengths, or f-values, for 11 ground-state transitions of Fe II in the wavelength range 1050 to 1150 Ang. We use ultraviolet absorption line observations of interstellar material…
The detection of a HeII absorption trough in the spectra of three high-redshift quasars provides new constraints on the spectral shape of the UV extragalactic background. The relative strengths of the observed flux decrements at the…
We have detected narrow HI 21cm and CI absorption at $z \sim 1.4 - 1.6$ towards Q0458$-$020 and Q2337$-$011, and use these lines to test for possible changes in the fine structure constant $\alpha$, the proton-electron mass ratio $\mu$, and…
We briefly review, at a level appropriate for graduate students and non-specialists, the field of quasar absorption lines (QALs). Emphasis is on the intervening absorbers. We present the anatomy of a quasar spectrum due to various classes…
Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) and sub-DLA absorbers in quasar spectra provide the most sensitive tools for measuring element abundances of distant galaxies. Estimation of abundances from absorption lines depends sensitively on the accuracy of…
Precision spectroscopy of atomic hydrogen is an important way to test bound-state quantum electrodynamics (QED), one of the building blocks of the Standard Model. In its simplest form, such a test consists of the comparison of a measured…
The study of quasar variability has long been seen as a way to understanding the structure of the central engine of active galactic nuclei, and as a means of verifying the morphology of the standard model. Much work has already been done on…
The results from an X-ray spectral analysis of a large sample of quasars, observed with ASCA, are presented. Data reduction leaves 62 quasars, 35 radio-loud and 27 radio-quiet, suitable for spectral analysis. Differences are found between…
There are indications from the study of quasar absorption spectra that the fine structure constant $\alpha$ may have been measurably smaller for redshifts $z>2.$ Analyses of other data ($^{149}$Sm fission rate for the Oklo natural reactor,…
Peik and Tamm [Europhys. Lett. 61, 181 (2003)] proposed a nuclear clock based on the isomeric transition between the ground state and the first excited state of thorium-229. This transition was recognized as a potentially sensitive probe of…
We demonstrate a widely applicable technique to absolutely calibrate the energy scale of x-ray spectra with experimentally well-known and accurately calculable transitions of highly charged ions, allowing us to measure the K-shell Rydberg…
Infrared (IR) spectroscopy can be used as an important and effective tool for probing periodic networks of quantum wires or nanotubes (quantum crossbars, QCB) at finite frequencies far from the Luttinger liquid fixed point. Plasmon…
For quantum information processing (QIP) with trapped ions, the isotope 43Ca+ offers the combined advantages of a quantum memory with long coherence time, a high fidelity read out and the possibility of performing two qubit gates on a…
High-resolution collinear laser spectroscopy of neutron-rich actinium has been performed at TRIUMF's isotope separator and accelerator facility ISAC. By probing the $7s^2~^1S_0$ $\rightarrow$ $6d7p~^1P_1$ ionic transition, the hyperfine…
Optical absorption measurements characterize a wide variety of systems from atomic gases to \emph{in-vivo} diagnostics of living organisms. Here we study the potential of non-classical techniques to reduce statistical noise below the…
We list vacuum wavelengths, energy levels, statistical weights, transition probabilities and oscillator strengths for permitted resonance spectral lines of all ions of 18 astrophysically important elements (H through Si, S, Ar, Ca, Fe).…
This paper discusses some features of the spectral line profile theory used in the treatment of measured atomic transitions. It is shown that going beyond the established linear approximation for the spectral line contour in the case of its…
(Abridged) We use a high-resolution spectrum of the quasar HE0001-2340 observed with the UVES/VLT to measure Mg isotope abundances in the intervening absorption-line systems at high redshifts. Line profiles are prepared accounting for…
In this review we discuss the progress of the past decade in testing for a possible temporal variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$. Advances in atomic sample preparation, laser spectroscopy and optical frequency measurements led…