{
  "id": "1106.5786",
  "version": "v1",
  "published": "2011-06-28T20:00:01.000Z",
  "updated": "2011-06-28T20:00:01.000Z",
  "title": "New constraint on cosmological variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio from Q0528-250",
  "authors": [
    "Julian A. King",
    "Michael T. Murphy",
    "Wim Ubachs",
    "John K. Webb"
  ],
  "comment": "30 pages, 6 figures + 14 supplementary figures. Accepted for publication for MNRAS",
  "categories": [
    "astro-ph.CO",
    "astro-ph.IM"
  ],
  "abstract": "Molecular hydrogen transitions in quasar spectra can be used to constrain variation in the proton-to-electron mass ratio, $\\mu\\equiv m_p/m_e$, at high redshifts ($z\\gtrsim 2$). We present here an analysis of a new spectrum of the quasar Q0528$-$250, obtained on VLT/UVES (the Ultraviolet and Visual Echelle Spectrograph, on the Very Large Telescope), and analyse the well-known H$_2$ absorber at $z=2.811$ in this spectrum. For the first time we detect HD (deuterated molecular hydrogen) in this system with a column density of $\\log_{10}(N/\\mathrm{cm^{-2}})=13.27 \\pm 0.07$; HD is sensitive to variation in $\\mu$, and so we include it in our analysis. Using 76 H$_2$ and 7 HD transitions we constrain variation in $\\mu$ from the current laboratory value to be $\\Delta\\mu/\\mu = (0.3\\pm 3.2_\\mathrm{stat} \\pm 1.9_\\mathrm{sys})\\times 10^{-6}$, which is consistent with no cosmological variation in $\\mu$, as well as with previous results from other H$_2$/HD absorbers. The main sources of systematic uncertainty relate to accurate wavelength calibration of the spectra and the re-dispersion of multiple telescope exposures onto the one pixel grid.",
  "revisions": [
    {
      "version": "v1",
      "updated": "2011-06-28T20:00:01.000Z"
    }
  ],
  "analyses": {
    "keywords": [
      "proton-to-electron mass ratio",
      "cosmological variation",
      "constrain variation",
      "constraint",
      "visual echelle spectrograph"
    ],
    "tags": [
      "journal article"
    ],
    "publication": {
      "doi": "10.1111/j.1365-2966.2011.19460.x",
      "journal": "Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society",
      "year": 2011,
      "month": "Nov",
      "volume": 417,
      "number": 4,
      "pages": 3010
    },
    "note": {
      "typesetting": "TeX",
      "pages": 30,
      "language": "en",
      "license": "arXiv",
      "status": "editable",
      "inspire": 916287,
      "adsabs": "2011MNRAS.417.3010K"
    }
  }
}