Do the Fundamental Constants Vary in the Course of the Cosmological Evolution?

Details Do the Fundamental Constants Vary in the Course of the Cosmological Evolution? Do the Fundamental Constants Vary in the Course of the Cosmological Evolution?

2001-12-13

arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0112323v2

Astron.Lett. 28 (2002) 423

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

12 pages, 3 figures, submitted to "Astronomy Letters"

Scientific paper

10.1134/1.1491963

We estimate the cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio \mu=m_p/m_e by measuring the wavelengths of molecular hydrogen transitions in the early universe. The analysis is performed using high spectral resolution observations (FWHM ~ 7 km/s) of two damped Lyman-\alpha systems at z_{abs}=2.3377 and 3.0249 observed along the lines of sight to the quasars Q 1232+082 and Q 0347-382 respectively. The most conservative result of the analysis is a possible variation of \mu over the last ~ 10 Gyrs, with an amplitude \Delta\mu/\mu = (5.7+-3.8)x10^{-5}. The result is significant at the 1.5\sigma level only and should be confirmed by further observations. This is the most stringent estimate of a possible cosmological variation of \mu obtained up to now.

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