Cold Molecule Spectroscopy for Constraining the Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant

Abstract

We report precise measurements of ground-state, $\lambda$-doublet microwave transitions in the hydroxyl radical molecule (OH). Utilizing slow, cold molecules produced by a Stark decelerator we have improved over the precision of the previous best measurement by twenty-five-fold for the F' = 2 $\to$ F = 2 transition, yielding (1 667 358 996 $\pm$ 4) Hz, and by ten-fold for the F' = 1 $\to$ F = 1 transition, yielding (1 665 401 803 $\pm$ 12) Hz. Comparing these laboratory frequencies to those from OH megamasers in interstellar space will allow a sensitivity of 1 ppm for $\Delta \alpha /\alpha$ over $\sim$$10^{10}$ years.

This version corrects minor typos in the Zeeman shift discussion

References in corpus (12)

• Further Evidence for Cosmological Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant
• New limit on the present temporal variation of the fine structure constant
• Spacetime-varying couplings and Lorentz violation
• Probing the variability of the fine-structure constant with the VLT/UVES
• Phase Space Manipulation of Cold Free Radical OH Molecules
• Collisional dynamics of ultracold OH molecules in an electrostatic field
• Methods for Constraining Fine Structure Constant Evolution with OH Microwave Transitions
• Constraining the variation of fundamental constants using 18cm OH lines
• Cold free radical molecules in the laboratory frame
• Efficient Stark deceleration of cold polar molecules
• Conjugate 18cm OH Satellite Lines at a Cosmological Distance
• A pulsed, low-temperature beam of supersonically cooled free radical OH molecules

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