Actinide ions for testing the spatial $\alpha -$variation hypothesis

Abstract

Testing the spatial variation of fine-structure constant $\alpha$ indicated in [Webb et al., Phys. Rev. Lett. 107, 191101 (2011)] with terrestrial laboratory atomic measurements requires at least $\dot{\alpha }/\alpha \sim 10^{-19}{\text{y}}^{-1}$ sensitivity. We conduct a systematic search of atomic systems for such a test that have all features of the best optical clock transitions leading to possibility of the frequency measurements with fractional accuracy on the level of $10^{-18}$ or better and have a factor of 100 extra enhancement of $\alpha$-variation in comparisons to experimental frequency ratio measurement accuracy. We identify the pair of actinide Cf${}^{15+}$ and Es${}^{16+}$ ions as the best system for a test of spatial $\alpha -$variation hypothesis as it satisfies both of these requirements and have sufficiently simple electronic structure to allow for high-precision predictions of all atomic properties required for rapid experimental progress.

5 pages, 2 figures

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