New experimental limits to the time variations of (/) and α
Authors:
- 11 October 1993
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Physical Society (APS) in Physical Review Letters
- Vol. 71 (15) , 2364-2366
Abstract
A new experimental limit to the possible time variation of the proton gyromagnetic ratio times the electron-to-proton mass ratio has been obtained from the frequency comparison data between Cs and Mg atomic beam standards. The measurements, made over a period of one year, lead to an upper limit for the rate of change of (/) of 5.4×/yr. This result, based only on the validity of the quantum mechanical theory of the atomic spectra, together with astrophysical data regarding analogous products of atomic fundamental constants, leads also to a new limit for the time stability of the fine structure constant α (2.7×/yr).
Keywords
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