J/MNRAS/345/609 Variability of the fine-structure constant (Murphy+, 2003)
Further evidence for a variable fine-structure constant from Keck/HIRES QSO
absorption spectra.
Murphy M.T., Webb J.K., Flambaum V.V.
<Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc., 345, 609-638 (2003)>
=2003MNRAS.345..609M 2003MNRAS.345..609M
ADC_Keywords: Atomic physics ; QSOs
Keywords: atomic data - line: profiles - methods: laboratory -
techniques: spectroscopic - quasars: absorption lines -
ultraviolet: general
Abstract:
We have previously presented evidence for a varying fine-structure
constant, α, in two independent samples of Keck/HIRES
quasi-stellar object (QSO) absorption spectra. Here we present a
detailed many-multiplet analysis of a third Keck/HIRES sample
containing 78 absorption systems. We also re-analyse the previous
samples, providing a total of 128 absorption systems over the redshift
range 0.2<zabs<3.7.
File Summary:
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FileName Lrecl Records Explanations
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ReadMe 80 . This file
table2.dat 130 46 Atomic data for the MM transitions in our analysis.
table3.dat 59 128 The raw results from the Χ2 minimization
procedure
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table2.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1- 6 A6 --- Ion Ion (1)
8- 12 F5.2 --- A ? Mass number
15- 24 F10.5 0.1nm lambda0 Laboratory wavelength
26- 27 I2 10-6nm e_lambda0 ? rms uncertainty on lamba0
29- 38 F10.4 cm-1 omega0 Laboratory wavenumber
40- 42 I3 10-4cm-1 e_omega0 ? rms uncertainty on omega0
44 A1 --- r_lambda0 [abcde] Reference for lambda0 (2)
46- 66 A21 --- Ground Ground state
68- 91 A24 --- Upper Upper state
93 A1 --- ID Identification letter for the transition,
used in table3.dat
96- 99 F4.1 eV IP- ? Ionization potential for the relevant ion
100 A1 --- --- [,]
102-105 F4.1 eV IP+ ? Ionization potential for the ion with a
unit lower charge
108-112 F5.2 --- RS ? Relative strength of the isotopic or
hyperfine components (3)
113-119 F7.5 --- f ? Oscillator strength (4)
122-126 I5 cm-1 q ? q coefficient (5)
128-130 I3 cm-1 e_q ? rms uncertainty on q
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Note (1): The Si II, Al II and Al III wavenumbers have been scaled from
their literature values due to the Norlen/Whaling et al. calibration
difference.
Note (2): References:
a: Pickering et al. (1998MNRAS.300..131P 1998MNRAS.300..131P)
b: Griesmann & Kling (2000ApJ...536L.113G 2000ApJ...536L.113G)
c: Pickering et al. (2000MNRAS.319..163P 2000MNRAS.319..163P)
d: Pickering et al. (2002A&A...396..715P 2002A&A...396..715P)
e: Nave et al. (1991, J. Opt. Soc. Am. B, 8, 2028)
Note (3): The relative strength of the isotopic are form Rosman & Taylor
1998, J. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data, 27, 1275)
Note (4): Oscillator strength from the DLA data base4 of Prochaska et al.
(2001ApJS..137...21P 2001ApJS..137...21P)
Note (5): q coefficient from Dzuba et al. (1999, Phys. Rev. A, 59, 230;
1999, Phys. Rev. Lett., 82, 888; 2001, Lecture Notes in Physics,
Vol. 570, p. 564 and 2002, Phys. Rev. A, 66, 022501)
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Byte-by-byte Description of file: table3.dat
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Bytes Format Units Label Explanations
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1 A1 --- Sample [lhn] Sample (1)
3- 11 A9 --- QSO QSO name (HHMM+DDSS, B1950)
13- 17 F5.3 --- zem Emission redshift
19- 25 F7.5 --- zabs Nominal absorption redshift
27 A1 --- n_zabs [b] Note (2)
31- 44 A14 --- Trans Transition, with letters as defined in
table2.dat (ID)
46- 51 F6.3 --- Dalpha/alpha Δα/α ratio (3)
53- 57 F5.3 --- e_Dalpha/alpha rms uncertainty on Dalpha/alpha
58 A1 --- n_Dalpha/alpha [*] *: systems included in the
'high-contrast' sample (4)
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Note (1): Samples:
l: Previous low-z sample
h: Previous high-z sample
n: New sample
Note (2): This absorber contributed by Outram et al. (1999MNRAS.310..289O 1999MNRAS.310..289O)
Note (3): α is the fine-structure constant (α=e2/hc)
Δα/α=(αz-α0)/α0,
for αz and α0 the values of α in the absorption
system(s) and in the laboratory, respectively.
Note (4): An additional random error of 2.09x10-5 should be added in
quadrature to these systems to form the fiducial sample
(see Section 4.2 of the paper).
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History:
From electronic version of the journal
(End) James Marcout, Patricia Vannier [CDS] 13-Feb-2004