Investigation of the gravitational-potential dependence of the fine-structure constant using atomic dysprosium

S. J. Ferrell, A. Cingöz, A. Lapierre, A.-T. Nguyen, N. Leefer, D. Budker, V. V. Flambaum, S. K. Lamoreaux, and J. R. Torgerson
Phys. Rev. A 76, 062104 – Published 7 December 2007

Abstract

Radio-frequency E1 transitions between nearly degenerate, opposite-parity levels of atomic dysprosium (Dy) were monitored over an 8-month period to search for a variation in the fine-structure constant α. During this time period, data were taken at different points in the gravitational potential of the Sun. The data are fitted to the variation in the gravitational potential yielding a value of (8.7±6.6)×106 for kα, the variation of α in a changing gravitational potential. This value gives the first laboratory limit independent of assumptions regarding other fundamental constants. In addition, our value of kα combined with other experimental constraints is used to extract the first limits on ke and kq. These coefficients characterize the variation of memp and mqmp in a changing gravitational potential, where me, mp, and mq are electron, proton, and quark masses. The results are ke=(4.9±3.9)×105 and kq=(6.6±5.2)×105. All these results indicate the absence of significant variation at the present level of sensitivity.

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  • Received 15 August 2007

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.76.062104

©2007 American Physical Society

Authors & Affiliations

S. J. Ferrell1, A. Cingöz1, A. Lapierre2, A.-T. Nguyen3, N. Leefer1, D. Budker1,4, V. V. Flambaum5,6, S. K. Lamoreaux7, and J. R. Torgerson3

  • 1Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, California 94720-7300, USA
  • 2TRIUMF National Laboratory, 4004 Wesbrook Mall, Vancouver, British Columbia, V6T 2A3, Canada
  • 3Physics Division, Los Alamos National Laboratory, P-23, MS-H803, Los Alamos, New Mexico 87545, USA
  • 4Nuclear Science Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, California 94720, USA
  • 5School of Physics, The University of New South Wales, Sydney NSW 2052, Australia
  • 6Institute for Advanced Study, Massey University (Albany Campus), Private Bag 102904, North Shore MSC Auckland, New Zealand
  • 7Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520-8120, USA

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Issue

Vol. 76, Iss. 6 — December 2007

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