New Determination of the Fine Structure Constant and Test of the Quantum Electrodynamics

Journal Article · Fri Feb 25 00:00:00 EST 2011 · Physical Review Letters

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PHYSREVLETT.106.080801· OSTI ID:21562056

Bouchendira, Rym; Clade, Pierre; Nez, Francois; Biraben, Francois ^[1]; Guellati-Khelifa, Saieda ^[2]

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1. Laboratoire Kastler Brossel, Ecole Normale Superieure, Universite Pierre et Marie Curie, CNRS, 4 place Jussieu, 75252 Paris Cedex 05 (France)
2. Conservatoire National des Arts et Metiers, 292 rue Saint Martin, 75141 Paris Cedex 03 (France)

We report a new measurement of the ratio h/m{sub Rb} between the Planck constant and the mass of {sup 87}Rb atom. A new value of the fine structure constant is deduced, {alpha}{sup -1}=137.035 999 037 (91) with a relative uncertainty of 6.6x10{sup -10}. Using this determination, we obtain a theoretical value of the electron anomaly a{sub e}=0.001 159 652 181 13(84), which is in agreement with the experimental measurement of Gabrielse [a{sub e}=0.001 159 652 180 73(28)]. The comparison of these values provides the most stringent test of the QED. Moreover, the precision is large enough to verify for the first time the muonic and hadronic contributions to this anomaly.

• OSTI ID: 21562056
• Journal Information: Physical Review Letters, Vol. 106, Issue 8; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.106.080801; (c) 2011 American Institute of Physics; ISSN 0031-9007
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS
GENERAL PHYSICS
ACCURACY
ELECTRONS
FINE STRUCTURE
HADRONS
MASS
QUANTUM ELECTRODYNAMICS
RUBIDIUM 87
BETA DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
BETA-MINUS DECAY RADIOISOTOPES
ELECTRODYNAMICS
ELEMENTARY PARTICLES
FERMIONS
FIELD THEORIES
INTERMEDIATE MASS NUCLEI
ISOTOPES
LEPTONS
NUCLEI
ODD-EVEN NUCLEI
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
RADIOISOTOPES
RUBIDIUM ISOTOPES
YEARS LIVING RADIOISOTOPES