Abstract
Based on highly accurate laboratory measurements of Lyman bands of and an updated representation of the structure of the ground and excited and states, a new set of sensitivity coefficients is derived for all lines in the spectrum, representing the dependence of their transition wavelengths on a possible variation of the proton-electron mass ratio . Included are local perturbation effects between and levels and adiabatic corrections. The new wavelengths and factors are used to compare with a recent set of highly accurate spectral lines observed in the Q 0347-383 and Q 0405-443 quasars, yielding a fractional change in the mass ratio of for a weighted fit and for an unweighted fit. This result indicates, at a confidence level, that could have decreased in the past 12 Gyr.
- Received 13 May 2005
DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.96.151101
©2006 American Physical Society