Robust Constraint on a Drifting Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio at z=0.89 from Methanol Observation at Three Radio Telescopes

Abstract

A limit on a possible cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio $\mu$ is derived from methanol (CH${}_3$OH) absorption lines in the benchmark PKS1830$-$211 lensing galaxy at redshift $z=0.89$ observed with the Effelsberg 100-m radio telescope, the Institute de Radio Astronomie Millimétrique 30-m telescope, and the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array. Ten different absorption lines of CH${}_3$OH covering a wide range of sensitivity coefficients $K_{\mu }$ are used to derive a purely statistical 1-$\sigma$ constraint of $\Delta \mu /\mu =(1.5\pm 1.5)\times 10^{-7}$ for a lookback time of 7.5 billion years. Systematic effects of chemical segregation, excitation temperature, frequency dependence and time variability of the background source are quantified. A multi-dimensional linear regression analysis leads to a robust constraint of $\Delta \mu /\mu =(-1.0\pm 0.8_{\mathrm{stat}}\pm 1.0_{\mathrm{sys}})\times 10^{-7}$.

5 pages, 3 figures. Published in PRL

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