Related papers: Limits on the Variability of Physical Constants
Some recent results are presented about high redshift molecular absorption lines, namely about chemical abundances of elements, and in particular of water and molecular oxygen. Excitation temperatures of several molecules are found lower…
Murphy et al. (2003a, MNRAS, 345, 609) claim to find evidence of cosmological variations of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ in the spectra of intervening QSO absorption line systems. We find that this result is affected by systematic…
We examine the Ly-alpha absorber population at z<0.3 detected in spectra of the QSOs PG0953+415 and H1821+643 taken with the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph aboard the Hubble Space Telescope. We compare their statistical properties to…
At redshifts z_abs < 2, quasar absorption-line constraints on space-time variations in the fine-structure constant, alpha, rely on the comparison of MgII and FeII transition wavelengths. One potentially important uncertainty is the relative…
Neutral hydrogen traces gravitational potentials. In the nearby universe, 21cm emission-line surveys show that the bulk of the HI resides in well-formed, optically-luminous galaxies. At high redshift, 21cm line absorption against background…
Comparison of quasar absorption spectra with laboratory spectra allow us to probe possible variations in the fundamental constants over cosmological time-scales. In a companion paper we present an analysis of Keck/HIRES spectra and report…
The current observational and experimental bounds on the time variation of the constants of nature (the fine structure constant $\alpha$, the gravitational constant $G$ and the proton-electron mass ratio $\mu=m_p/m_e$) are reviewed.
The many-multiplet method applied to high redshift quasar absorption spectra has indicated a possible time variation of the fine structure constant. Alternatively, a constant value of alpha is consistent with the observational analysis if a…
We report preliminary results from a third sample of quasar absorption line spectra from the Keck telescope which has been studied to search for any possible variation of the fine structure constant, alpha. This third sample, which is…
Dependence of transition frequencies on the fine structure constant $\alpha=e^2/\hbar c$ is calculated for several many-electron systems which are used or planned to be used in the laboratory search for the time variation of the fine…
Molecular hydrogen transitions in the sub-damped Lyman alpha absorber at redshift z = 2.69, toward the background quasar SDSS J123714.60+064759.5, were analyzed in order to search for a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass…
Molecular hydrogen absorption in the damped Lyman-alpha system at z = 2.34 towards quasar Q1232+082 is analyzed in order to derive a constraint on a possible temporal variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio, mu, over cosmological…
Spacetime variations of physical constants can be associated with the existence of Higgs-like scalar field(s) that couple non-universally to the baryonic matter. Recent results of astronomical spectral measurements of the fractional changes…
Molecular hydrogen (H2) absorption features observed in the line-of-sight to Q2348-011 at redshift zabs = 2.426 are analysed for the purpose of detecting a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio mu=mp/me. By its structure…
We present the results from our search for HI 21-cm absorption in a sample of 16 strong FeII systems ($W_{\rm r}$(MgII $\lambda2796$) $\ge1.0$ \AA\ and $W_{\rm r}$(FeII $\lambda2600$) or $W_{\rm FeII}$ $\ge1$ \AA) at $0.5<z<1.5$ using the…
Contemporary multidimensional cosmological theories predict different variations of fundamental physical constants in course of the cosmological evolution. On the basis of the QSO spectra analysis, we show that the fine-structure constant…
We propose a new method to probe a possible time evolution of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ from X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich measurements of the gas mass fraction ($f_{gas}$) in galaxy clusters. Taking into account a direct relation…
The strong intervening absorption system at redshift 1.15 towards the very bright quasar HE 0515$-$4414 is the most studied absorber for measuring possible cosmological variations in the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$. We observed HE…
We present the results of a blind search for intervening HI 21 cm absorption toward 260 radio sources in the redshift range 0<z<2.74 with the Green Bank Telescope. The survey has the sensitivity to detect sub-damped Lyman-alpha (DLA)…
We present constraints on the spacetime variation of the fine-structure constant $\alpha$ at redshifts $2.5\le z<9.5$ using JWST emission-line galaxies. The galaxy sample consists of 621 high-quality spectra with strong and narrow [O III]…