Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-lj6df Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T02:39:47.655Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Searching for space-time variation of the fine structure constant using QSO spectra: overview and future prospects

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2010

J. C. Berengut
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
V. A. Dzuba
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
V. V. Flambaum
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
J. A. King
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
M. G. Kozlov
Affiliation:
Petersburg Nuclear Physics Institute, Gatchina, 188300, Russia
M. T. Murphy
Affiliation:
Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing, Swinburne University of Technology, Victoria 3122, Australia
J. K. Webb
Affiliation:
School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Current theories that seek to unify gravity with the other fundamental interactions suggest that spatial and temporal variation of fundamental constants is a possibility, or even a necessity, in an expanding Universe. Several studies have tried to probe the values of constants at earlier stages in the evolution of the Universe, using tools such as big-bang nucleosynthesis, the Oklo natural nuclear reactor, quasar absorption spectra, and atomic clocks (see, e.g. Flambaum & Berengut (2009)).

Type
Contributed Papers
Copyright
Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2010

References

Dzuba, V. A., Flambaum, V. V., & Webb, J. K. 1999, Phys. Rev. Lett., 82, 888CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flambaum, V. V. & Berengut, J. C. 2009, Int. J. Mod. Phys. A, 24, 3342CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, M. T., Flambaum, V. V., Webb, J. K., et al. 2004, Lect. Notes Phys., 648, 131CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, M. T., Webb, J. K., & Flambaum, V. V. 2007, Phys. Rev. Lett., 99, 239001CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Murphy, M. T., Webb, J. K., & Flambaum, V. V. 2008, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 384, 1053CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Srianand, R., Chand, H., Petitjean, P., & Aracil, B. 2004, Phys. Rev. Lett., 92, 121302CrossRefGoogle Scholar