observations - line profiles - quasars absorption lines Cosmology
Issue Date:
2010
Publisher:
Astrophysics
Citation:
Page : 1-7
Abstract:
The variation of the fine-structure constant ? = e2 / h{combining short stroke overlay}c can be
probed by comparing the wavelength of atomic transitions from the redshift of quasars in the Universe and
laboratory over cosmological time scales t ~ 1010 yr. After a careful selection of pairs of lines, the Thong
method with a derived analytical expression for the error analysis was applied to compute the ? variation.
We report a new constraint on the variation of the fine-structure constant based on the analysis of the CIV, N
V, MgII, AlIII, and SiIV doublet absorption lines. The weighted mean value of the variation in ? derived
from our analysis over the redshift range 0.4939 ?? z ?? 3.7 is = ( 0.09 ? 0.07)??10-5. This result is three
orders of magnitude better than the results obtained by earlier analysis of the same data on the constraint on
???/? . ?? 2010 Springer Science+Business Media, Inc.