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    Planck intermediate results XXIV. Constraints on variations in fundamental constants


    Ade, P.A.R., Aghanim, N., Arnaud, M., Ashdown, M., Aumont, J., Baccigalupi, C., Banday, A.J., Barreiro, R.B., Battaner, E., Benabed, K., Benoit-Lévy, A., Bernard, J.-P., Bersanelli, M., Bielewicz, P., Bond, J.R., Borrill, J., Bouchet, F.R., Burigana, C., Butler, R.C., Calabrese, E., Chamballu, A., Chiang, H.C., Christensen, P.R., Clements, D.L., Colombo, L.P.L., Couchot, F., Curto, A., Cuttaia, F., Danese, L., Davies, R.D., Davis, R.J., De Bernardis, P., de Rosa, A., de Zotti, G., Delabrouille, J., Diego, J.M., Dole, H., Dore, O., Dupac, X., Enßlin, T.A., Eriksen, H.K., Fabre, O., Finelli, F., Forni, O., Frailis, M., Franceschi, E., Galeotta, S., Galli, S., Ganga, K., Giard, M., Gonzalez-Nuevo, J., Gorski, K.M., Gregorio, A., Gruppuso, A., Hansen, F.K., Hanson, D., Harrison, D., Henrot-Versille, S., Hernandez-Monteagudo, C., Herranz, D., Hildebrandt, S.R., Hivon, E., Hobson, M., Holmes, W.A., Hornstrup, A., Hovest, W., Huffenberger, K.M., Jaffe, A.H., Jones, W.C., Keihanen, E., Keskitalo, R., Kneissl, R., Knoche, J., Kunz, M., Kurki-Suonio, H., Lamarre, J.-M., Lasenby, A., Lawrence, C.R., Leonardi, R., Lesgourgues, J., Liguori, M., Lilje, P.B., Linden-Vornle, M., Lopez-Caniego, M., Lubin, P.M., Macias-Perez, J.F., Mandolesi, N., Maris, M., Martin, P.G., Martinez-Gonzalez, E., Masi, S., Matarrese, S., Mazzotta, P., Meinhold, P.R., Melchiorri, A., Mendes, L., Menegoni, E., Mennella, A., Migliaccio, M., Miville-Deschenes, M.-A., Moneti, A., Montier, L., Morgante, G., Moss, A., Munshi, D., Murphy, J.Anthony, Naselsky, P., Nati, F., Natoli, P., Norgaard-Nielsen, H.U., Noviello, F., Novikov, D., Novikov, I., Oxborrow, C.A., Pagano, L., Pajot, F., Paoletti, D., Pasian, F., Patanchon, G., Perdereau, O., Perotto, L., Perrotta, F., Piacentini, F., Piat, M., Pierpaoli, E., Pietrobon, D., Plaszczynski, S., Pointecouteau, E., Polenta, G., Ponthieu, N., Popa, L., Pratt, G.W., Prunet, S., Rachen, J.P., Rebolo, R., Reinecke, M., Remazeilles, M., Renault, C., Ricciardi, S., Ristorcelli, I., Rocha, G., Roudier, G., Rusholme, B., Sandri, M., Savini, G., Scott, D., Spencer, L., Stolyarov, V., Sudiwala, R., Sutton, D., Suur-Uski, A.-S., Sygnet, J.-F., Tauber, J.A., Tavagnacco, D., Terenzi, L., Toffolatti, L., Tomasi, M., Tristram, M., Tucci, M., Uzan, J.-P., Valenziano, L., Valiviita, J., Van Tent, B., Vielva, P., Villa, F., Wade, L.A., Yvon, D., 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: 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
    Related URLs:
    URI: https://mural.maynoothuniversity.ie/id/eprint/14116
    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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