Modeling long-range wavelength distortions in quasar absorption echelle spectra

Abstract

Spectra observed with the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph (UVES) on the European Southern Observatory's VLT exhibit long-range wavelength distortions. These distortions impose a systematic error on high-precision measurements of the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, derived from intervening quasar absorption systems. If the distortion is modelled using a model that is too simplistic, the resulting bias in $\Delta \alpha /\alpha$ away from the true value can be larger than the statistical uncertainty on the $\alpha$ measurement. If the effect is ignored altogether, the same is true. If the effect is modelled properly, accounting for the way in which final spectra are generally formed from the co-addition of exposures made at several different instrumental settings, the effect can be accurately removed and the correct $\Delta \alpha /\alpha$ recovered.

8 pages, 7 figures, 3 tables

References in corpus (1)

• Impact of instrumental systematic errors on fine-structure constant measurements with quasar spectra

Cited by in corpus (11)

• Highly charged ions: optical clocks and applications in fundamental physics
• Is the Observable Universe Consistent with the Cosmological Principle?
• Subaru Telescope limits on cosmological variations in the fine-structure constant
• The primordial deuterium abundance at z = 2.504 from a high signal-to-noise spectrum of Q1009+2956
• A new era of fine structure constant measurements at high redshift
• Measuring the fine structure constant on a white dwarf surface; a detailed analysis of Fe V absorption in G191-B2B
• Search for varying constants of nature from astronomical observation of molecules
• Precision in high resolution absorption line modelling, analytic Voigt derivatives, and optimisation methods
• Fundamental physics with ESPRESSO: Constraints on Bekenstein and dark energy models from astrophysical and local probes
• Measuring the Time Variation of the Fine-structure Constant with Quasars Detected by LAMOST
• Review of detector requirements: some challenges for the present