Ade, P.A.R. and Aghanim, N. and Arnaud, M. and Ashdown, M. and Aumont, J. and Baccigalupi, C. and Banday, A.J. and Barreiro, R.B. and Battaner, E. and Benabed, K. and Benoit-Lévy, A. and Bernard, J.-P. and Bersanelli, M. and Bielewicz, P. and Bond, J.R. and Borrill, J. and Bouchet, F.R. and Burigana, C. and Butler, R.C. and Calabrese, E. and Chamballu, A. and Chiang, H.C. and Christensen, P.R. and Clements, D.L. and Colombo, L.P.L. and Couchot, F. and Curto, A. and Cuttaia, F. and Danese, L. and Davies, R.D. and Davis, R.J. and De Bernardis, P. and de Rosa, A. and de Zotti, G. and Delabrouille, J. and Diego, J.M. and Dole, H. and Dore, O. and Dupac, X. and Enßlin, T.A. and Eriksen, H.K. and Fabre, O. and Finelli, F. and Forni, O. and Frailis, M. and Franceschi, E. and Galeotta, S. and Galli, S. and Ganga, K. and Giard, M. and Gonzalez-Nuevo, J. and Gorski, K.M. and Gregorio, A. and Gruppuso, A. and Hansen, F.K. and Hanson, D. and Harrison, D. and Henrot-Versille, S. and Hernandez-Monteagudo, C. and Herranz, D. and Hildebrandt, S.R. and Hivon, E. and Hobson, M. and Holmes, W.A. and Hornstrup, A. and Hovest, W. and Huffenberger, K.M. and Jaffe, A.H. and Jones, W.C. and Keihanen, E. and Keskitalo, R. and Kneissl, R. and Knoche, J. and Kunz, M. and Kurki-Suonio, H. and Lamarre, J.-M. and Lasenby, A. and Lawrence, C.R. and Leonardi, R. and Lesgourgues, J. and Liguori, M. and Lilje, P.B. and Linden-Vornle, M. and Lopez-Caniego, M. and Lubin, P.M. and Macias-Perez, J.F. and Mandolesi, N. and Maris, M. and Martin, P.G. and Martinez-Gonzalez, E. and Masi, S. and Matarrese, S. and Mazzotta, P. and Meinhold, P.R. and Melchiorri, A. and Mendes, L. and Menegoni, E. and Mennella, A. and Migliaccio, M. and Miville-Deschenes, M.-A. and Moneti, A. and Montier, L. and Morgante, G. and Moss, A. and Munshi, D. and Murphy, J.Anthony and Naselsky, P. and Nati, F. and Natoli, P. and Norgaard-Nielsen, H.U. and Noviello, F. and Novikov, D. and Novikov, I. and Oxborrow, C.A. and Pagano, L. and Pajot, F. and Paoletti, D. and Pasian, F. and Patanchon, G. and Perdereau, O. and Perotto, L. and Perrotta, F. and Piacentini, F. and Piat, M. and Pierpaoli, E. and Pietrobon, D. and Plaszczynski, S. and Pointecouteau, E. and Polenta, G. and Ponthieu, N. and Popa, L. and Pratt, G.W. and Prunet, S. and Rachen, J.P. and Rebolo, R. and Reinecke, M. and Remazeilles, M. and Renault, C. and Ricciardi, S. and Ristorcelli, I. and Rocha, G. and Roudier, G. and Rusholme, B. and Sandri, M. and Savini, G. and Scott, D. and Spencer, L. and Stolyarov, V. and Sudiwala, R. and Sutton, D. and Suur-Uski, A.-S. and Sygnet, J.-F. and Tauber, J.A. and Tavagnacco, D. and Terenzi, L. and Toffolatti, L. and Tomasi, M. and Tristram, M. and Tucci, M. and Uzan, J.-P. and Valenziano, L. and Valiviita, J. and Van Tent, B. and Vielva, P. and Villa, F. and Wade, L.A. and Yvon, D. and Zacchei, A. and Zonca, A. (2015) Planck intermediate results XXIV. Constraints on variations in fundamental constants. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 580 (A22). ISSN 0004-6361

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Abstract

Any variation in the fundamental physical constants, more particularly in the fine structure constant, α, or in the mass of the electron, me, affects the recombination history of the Universe and cause an imprint on the cosmic microwave background angular power spectra. We show that the Planck data allow one to improve the constraint on the time variation of the fine structure constant at redshift z ~ 103 by about a factor of 5 compared to WMAP data, as well as to break the degeneracy with the Hubble constant, H0. In addition to α, we can set a constraint on the variation in the mass of the electron, me, and in the simultaneous variation of the two constants. We examine in detail the degeneracies between fundamental constants and the cosmological parameters, in order to compare the limits obtained from Planck and WMAP and to determine the constraining power gained by including other cosmological probes. We conclude that independent time variations of the fine structure constant and of the mass of the electron are constrained by Planck to Δα/α = (3.6 ± 3.7) × 10-3 and Δme/me = (4 ± 11) × 10-3 at the 68% confidence level. We also investigate the possibility of a spatial variation of the fine structure constant. The relative amplitude of a dipolar spatial variation in α (corresponding to a gradient across our Hubble volume) is constrained to be δα/α = (−2.4 ± 3.7) × 10-2.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	Planck collaboration; cosmology: observations; cosmic background radiation; cosmological parameters; atomic data;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Experimental Physics
Item ID:	14116
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424496
Depositing User:	Dr. Anthony Murphy
Date Deposited:	01 Mar 2021 17:09
Journal or Publication Title:	Astronomy & Astrophysics
Publisher:	EDP Sciences
Refereed:	Yes
URI:	Publisher
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

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