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Search for Cosmological μ-Variation from High-Redshift H2 Absorption; A Status Report

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From Varying Couplings to Fundamental Physics

Part of the book series: Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings ((ASSSP))

Abstract

Observations of H2 spectra in the line-of-sight of distant quasars may reveal a variation of the proton-electron mass ratio μ = m p  ∕ m e at high redshift, typically for z > 2. Currently four high-quality systems (Q0347-383, Q0405-443, Q0528-250 and J2123-050) have been analyzed returning a constraint Δμ ∕ μ < 1 ×10 − 5. We present data and a μ-variation analysis of another system, Q2348–011 at redshift z abs  = 2. 42, delivering Δμ ∕ μ = ( − 1. 5 ± 1. 6) ×10 − 5. In addition to observational data the status of the laboratory measurements is reviewed. The future possibilities of deriving a competitive constraint on Δμ ∕ μ from the known high-redshift H2 absorbers is investigated, resulting in the identification of a number of potentially useful systems for detecting μ-variation.

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Acknowledgements

This work is based on observations carried out at the European Southern Observatory (ESO) under program ID 79.A-0404 (PI Ubachs), with the UVES spectrograph installed at the VLT Kueyen UT2 on Cerro Paranal, Chile. The authors wish to thank John Webb, Julian King and Steve Curran (Sydney), Adrian Malec (Melbourne) and Freek van Weerdenburg (Amsterdam) for fruitful discussions.

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Author notes

  1. Ruth Buning

    Present address: Leiden Institute of Physics, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Lasers, Life and Biophotonics, VU University Amsterdam, de Boelelaan 1081, 1081, HV, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Wim Ubachs, Julija Bagdonaite, Ruth Buning & Lex Kaper

  2. Department of Astronomy, Vilnius University, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Julija Bagdonaite

  3. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Victoria, 3122, Australia

    Michael T. Murphy

  4. Astronomical Institute Anton Pannekoek, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 1098, SJ, Amsterdam, The Netherlands

    Lex Kaper

Authors
  1. Wim Ubachs
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  2. Julija Bagdonaite
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  3. Michael T. Murphy
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  4. Ruth Buning
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  5. Lex Kaper
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Wim Ubachs .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. , Centro de Astrofisica, Universidade do Porto, Rua das Estrelas, Porto, 4150-762, Portugal

    Carlos Martins

  2. INAF-Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste, Via G.B. Tiepolo 11, Trieste, 34131, Italy

    Paolo Molaro

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Ubachs, W., Bagdonaite, J., Murphy, M.T., Buning, R., Kaper, L. (2011). Search for Cosmological μ-Variation from High-Redshift H2 Absorption; A Status Report. In: Martins, C., Molaro, P. (eds) From Varying Couplings to Fundamental Physics. Astrophysics and Space Science Proceedings. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19397-2_13

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-19397-2_13

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