Perspective: Tipping the scales: Search for drifting constants from molecular spectra
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, LaserLaB, VU University Amsterdam, De Boelelaan 1081, 1081 HV Amsterdam (Netherlands)
Transitions in atoms and molecules provide an ideal test ground for constraining or detecting a possible variation of the fundamental constants of nature. In this perspective, we review molecular species that are of specific interest in the search for a drifting proton-to-electron mass ratio μ. In particular, we outline the procedures that are used to calculate the sensitivity coefficients for transitions in these molecules and discuss current searches. These methods have led to a rate of change in μ bounded to 6 × 10{sup −14}/yr from a laboratory experiment performed in the present epoch. On a cosmological time scale, the variation is limited to |Δμ/μ| < 10{sup −5} for look-back times of 10–12× 10{sup 9} years and to |Δμ/μ| < 10{sup −7} for look-back times of 7× 10{sup 9} years. The last result, obtained from high-redshift observation of methanol, translates into μ{sup .}/μ=(1.4±1.4)×10{sup −17}/yr if a linear rate of change is assumed.
- OSTI ID:
- 22253166
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Chemical Physics, Vol. 140, Issue 1; Other Information: (c) 2014 AIP Publishing LLC; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0021-9606
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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