Four direct measurements of the fine-structure constant 13 billion years ago

Wilczynska, Michael R.; Webb, John K.; Bainbridge, Matthew; Barrow, John D.; Bosman, Sarah E.; Carswell, Robert F.; Dabrowski, Mariusz P.; Dumont, Vincent; Lee, Chung-Chi; Leite, Ana Catarina; Leszczynska, Katarzyna; Liske, Jochen; Marosek, Konrad; Martins, Carlos J. A. P.; Milakovic, Dinko; Molaro, Paolo und Pasquini, Luca (2020): Four direct measurements of the fine-structure constant 13 billion years ago. In: Science Advances, Bd. 6, Nr. 17, eaay9672

Abstract

Observations of the redshift z = 7.085 quasar J1120+0641 are used to search for variations of the fine structure constant, a, over the redshift range 5:5 to 7:1. Observations at z = 7:1 probe the physics of the universe at only 0.8 billion years old. These are the most distant direct measurements of a to date and the first measurements using a near-IR spectrograph. A new Al analysis method is employed. Four measurements from the X-SHOOTER spectrograph on the Very Large Telescope (VLT) constrain changes in a relative to the terrestrial value (alpha(0)). The weighted mean electromagnetic force in this location in the universe deviates from the terrestrial value by Delta alpha/alpha = (alpha(z) - alpha(0))/alpha(0) = (-2:18 +/- 7:27) x 10(-5), consistent with no temporal change. Combining these measurements with existing data, we find a spatial variation is preferred over a no-variation model at the 3:9 sigma level.

• Dokumententyp: Zeitschriftenartikel
• Fakultät: Physik
• Themengebiete: 500 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik > 530 Physik
• ISSN: 2375-2548
• Sprache: Englisch