Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item:
http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/32323
Title: | Fundamental physics with ESPRESSO: Precise limit on variations in the fine-structure constant towards the bright quasar HE 0515−4414 | Authors: | Murphy, Michael T. MOLARO, Paolo Leite, Ana C. O. CUPANI, Guido CRISTIANI, Stefano D'ODORICO, Valentina Génova Santos, Ricardo Martins, Carlos J. A. P. MILAKOVIC, DINKO Nunes, Nelson J. SCHMIDT, TOBIAS MARIUS Pepe, Francesco A. Rebolo, Rafael Santos, Nuno C. Sousa, Sérgio G. Zapatero Osorio, Maria-Rosa Amate, Manuel Adibekyan, Vardan Alibert, Yann Prieto, Carlos Allende BALDINI, Veronica Benz, Willy Bouchy, François Cabral, Alexandre Dekker, Hans DI MARCANTONIO, Paolo Ehrenreich, David Figueira, Pedro González Hernández, Jonay I. LANDONI, Marco Lovis, Christophe Lo Curto, Gaspare Manescau, Antonio Mégevand, Denis Mehner, Andrea MICELA, Giuseppina Pasquini, Luca PORETTI, Ennio RIVA, Marco SOZZETTI, Alessandro Mascareño, Alejandro Suárez Udry, Stéphane ZERBI, Filippo Maria |
Issue Date: | 2022 | Journal: | ASTRONOMY & ASTROPHYSICS | Number: | 658 | First Page: | A123 | Abstract: | The strong intervening absorption system at redshift 1.15 towards the very bright quasar HE 0515−4414 is the most studied absorber for measuring possible cosmological variations in the fine-structure constant, α. We observed HE 0515−4414 for 16.1 h with the Very Large Telescope and present here the first constraint on relative variations in α with parts-per-million (ppm) precision from the new ESPRESSO spectrograph: Δα/α = 1.3 ± 1.3<SUB>stat</SUB> ± 0.4<SUB>sys</SUB> ppm. The statistical uncertainty (1σ) is similar to the ensemble precision of previous large samples of absorbers and derives from the high signal-to-noise ratio achieved (≈105 per 0.4 km s<SUP>−1</SUP> pixel). ESPRESSO's design, and the calibration of our observations with its laser frequency comb, effectively removed wavelength calibration errors from our measurement. The high resolving power of our ESPRESSO spectrum (R = 145 000) enabled the identification of very narrow components within the absorption profile, allowing a more robust analysis of Δα/α. The evidence for the narrow components is corroborated by their correspondence with previously detected molecular hydrogen and neutral carbon. The main remaining systematic errors arise from ambiguities in the absorption profile modelling, effects from redispersing the individual quasar exposures, and convergence of the parameter estimation algorithm. All analyses of the spectrum, including systematic error estimates, were initially blinded to avoid human biases. We make our reduced ESPRESSO spectrum of HE 0515−4414 publicly available for further analysis. Combining our ESPRESSO result with 28 measurements, from other spectrographs, in which wavelength calibration errors have been mitigated yields a weighted mean Δα/α = −0.5 ± 0.5<SUB>stat</SUB> ± 0.4<SUB>sys</SUB> ppm at redshifts 0.6−2.4. <P />Based on Guaranteed Time Observations collected at the European Southern Observatory under ESO programme 1102.A-0852 by the ESPRESSO Consortium. <P />Based on Guaranteed Time Observations collected at the European Southern Observatory under ESO programme 1102.A-0852 by the ESPRESSO Consortium. <P />The data and analysis products from this work are publicly available at <A href="https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5512490">https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.5512490</A> (<xref ref-type="bibr" rid="R57">Murphy et al. 2021</xref>). | URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12386/32323 | URL: | https://www.aanda.org/articles/aa/full_html/2022/02/aa42257-21/aa42257-21.html http://arxiv.org/abs/2112.05819v1 |
ISSN: | 0004-6361 | DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/202142257 | Bibcode ADS: | 2022A&A...658A.123M | Fulltext: | open |
Appears in Collections: | 1.01 Articoli in rivista |
Files in This Item:
File | Description | Size | Format | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Murphyetal.2022.pdf | PDF editoriale | 5.96 MB | Adobe PDF | View/Open |
Page view(s)
54
checked on Apr 19, 2024
Download(s)
21
checked on Apr 19, 2024
Google ScholarTM
Check
Altmetric
Altmetric
Items in DSpace are published in Open Access, unless otherwise indicated.