Practical Limitations on Astrophysical Observations of Methanol to Investigate Variations in the Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio

Abstract

The possibility of using astrophysical observations of rotational transitions in the methanol molecule to measure, or constrain temporal and spatial variations in the proton-to-electron mass ratio (mu) has recently been investigated by several groups. Here we outline some of the practical considerations of making such observations, including both the instrumental and astrophysical limitations which exist at present. This leads us to conclude that such observations are unlikely to be able to improve evidence either for, or against the presence of variations in the proton-to-electron mass ratio by more than an order of magnitude beyond current limits.

5 pages, 5 figure, accepted for publication in Physical Review Letters

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Cited by in corpus (13)

• Southern class I methanol masers at 36 and 44 GHz
• Microwave and submillimeter molecular transitions and their dependence on fundamental constants
• An upper limit to the variation in the fundamental constants at redshift z = 5.2
• Detection of 36 GHz class I methanol maser emission towards NGCS253
• First cosmological constraints on the proton-to-electron mass ratio from observations of rotational transitions of methanol
• Class I methanol masers in NGC253: Alcohol at the end of the bar
• A study of submillimeter methanol absorption toward PKS1830-211: Excitation, invariance of the proton-electron mass ratio, and systematics
• Testing maser-based evolutionary schemes: A new search for 37.7-GHz methanol masers
• Constraining cosmologies with fundamental constants I. Quintessence and K-Essence
• Astrophysical constraints on the proton-to-electron mass ratio with FAST
• Probing the electron-to-proton mass ratio gradient in the Milky Way with class I methanol masers
• Methanol absorption in PKS B1830-211 at milliarcsecond scales
• Sensitivity of Tunneling-Rotational Transitions in Ethylene Glycol to Variation of Electron-to-Proton Mass Ratio