Relativistic energy shifts in Ge II, Sn II and Pb II and search for cosmological variation of the fine structure constant

Abstract

Sensitivity of atomic transition frequencies to variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha =e^2/\hslash c$ increases proportional to $Z^2$ where $Z$ is the nuclear charge. Recently several lines of heavy ions Ge II, Sn II and Pb II have been detected in quasar absorption spectra. We have performed accurate many-body calculations of ${\alpha }^2$-dependence of transition frequencies ($q$-coefficients) for these atoms and found an order of magnitude increase in sensitivity in comparison with atomic transitions which were previously used to search for temporal and spatial variation of $\alpha$ in quasar absorption systems. An interesting feature in Pb II is highly non-linear dependence on ${\alpha }^2$ due to the level pseudo-crossings.

5 pages, 3 tables, 1 figure, submitted to Phys. Rev. A

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Highly charged ions with E1, M1, and E2 transitions within laser range
• Core-valence correlations for atoms with open shells
• High-precision calculations of In I and Sn II atomic properties
• Variation of fundamental constants in space and time: theory and observations
• Atomic calculations and search for variation of the fine structure constant in quasar absorption spectra
• Atomic transition frequencies, isotope shifts, and sensitivity to variation of the fine structure constant for studies of quasar absorption spectra