Consistency of local and astrophysical tests of the stability of fundamental constants

Martins, C. J. A. P.; Miñana, M. Vila

doi:10.1016/j.dark.2019.100301

Cited by 13 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As for astrophysical (spectroscopic) tests of the stability of α, we use both the Webb et al (2011) data set (a large data set of 293 archival data measurements) and the smaller but more recent data set of 24 dedicated measurements (Martins 2017;Murphy & Cooksey 2017), which are expected to have a better control of possible systematic errors. The former data set spans a redshift range 0.22 ≤ z ≤ 4.18, while the latter spans a narrower range, 1.02 ≤ z ≤ 2.13, but contains more stringent measurements that are compatible with the null result; overall these independent data sets complement each other and the constraining power of the two is comparable, as recently studied by Martins & Vila Miñana (2019).…”

Section: Current Observational Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Distinguishing freezing and thawing dark energy models through measurements of the fine-structure constant

Boas

Duarte

Martins

et al. 2020

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Mapping the behaviour of dark energy is a pressing task for observational cosmology. Phenomenological classification divides dynamical dark energy models into freezing and thawing, depending on whether the dark energy equation of state is approaching or moving away from w = p/ρ = −1. Moreover, in realistic dynamical dark energy models the dynamical degree of freedom is expected to couple to the electromagnetic sector, leading to variations of the fine-structure constant α. We discuss the feasibility of distinguishing between the freezing and thawing classes of models with current and forthcoming observational facilities and using a parametrisation of the dark energy equation of state, which can have either behaviour, introduced by Mukhanov as fiducial paradigm. We illustrate how freezing and thawing models lead to different redshift dependencies of α, and use a combination of current astrophysical observations and local experiments to constrain this class of models, improving the constraints on the key coupling parameter by more than a factor of two, despite considering a more extended parameter space than the one used in previous studies. We also briefly discuss the improvements expected from future facilities and comment on the practical limitations of this class of parametrisations. In particular, we show that sufficiently sensitive data can distinguish between freezing and thawing models, at least if one assumes that the relevant parameter space does not include phantom dark energy models.

show abstract

Section: Current Observational Constraintsmentioning

confidence: 60%

Distinguishing freezing and thawing dark energy models through measurements of the fine-structure constant

Boas

Duarte

Martins

et al. 2020

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…• Constraining possible variations in fundamental constants: A comparison of interferometers at different time and space positions may be useful to test possible variations of fundamental constants in these two domains. There are different motivations for these searches that can be found in [69,70]. • Probing dark energy: The main driver of current cosmological evolution is a puzzling substance that causes the acceleration of the expansion of space-time.…”

Section: Other Fundamental Physicsmentioning

confidence: 99%

AEDGE: Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space

El-Neaj

Alpigiani

Amairi‐Pyka

et al. 2020

EPJ Quantum Technol.

327

341

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We propose in this White Paper a concept for a space experiment using cold atoms to search for ultra-light dark matter, and to detect gravitational waves in the frequency range between the most sensitive ranges of LISA and the terrestrial LIGO/Virgo/KAGRA/INDIGO experiments. This interdisciplinary experiment, called Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration (AEDGE), will also complement other planned searches for dark matter, and exploit synergies with other gravitational wave detectors. We give examples of the extended range of sensitivity to ultra-light dark matter offered by AEDGE, and how its gravitational-wave measurements could explore the assembly of super-massive black holes, first-order phase transitions in the early universe and cosmic strings. AEDGE will be based upon technologies now being developed for terrestrial experiments using cold atoms, and will benefit from the space experience obtained with, e.g., LISA and cold atom experiments in microgravity.KCL-PH-TH/2019-65, CERN-TH-2019-126

show abstract

“…In the rest of the paper, we refer to the combination of all these data as current α data, and we show the constraints produced by such a combination. However, we note that the 293 archival data an the 26 dedicated ones are in slight tension with each other (Martins 2017;Martins & Vila Miñana 2019). Despite assuming here that they can be safely combined, we discuss this issue in more detail in Appendix A.…”

Section: Currently Available Data For α Variationmentioning

confidence: 95%

“…We use a total of 319 measurements, of which 293 come from the analysis of archival data by Webb et al (2011) and the remaining 26 are more recent dedicated measurements (Martins 2017;Murphy & Cooksey 2017;Welsh et al 2020;Milaković et al 2021). The latter subset is therefore smaller than the former, but it contains more stringent measurements, so overall the archival and dedicated subsets have comparable constraining power (Martins & Vila Miñana 2019). Overall, this dataset includes measurements up to redshift z ∼ 4.18.…”

Section: Currently Available Data For α Variationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Euclid: Constraining dark energy coupled to electromagnetism using astrophysical and laboratory data

Martinelli

Martins

Nesseris

et al. 2021

A&A

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In physically realistic, scalar-field-based dynamical dark energy models (including, e.g., quintessence), one naturally expects the scalar field to couple to the rest of the model’s degrees of freedom. In particular, a coupling to the electromagnetic sector leads to a time (redshift) dependence in the fine-structure constant and a violation of the weak equivalence principle. Here we extend the previous Euclid forecast constraints on dark energy models to this enlarged (but physically more realistic) parameter space, and forecast how well Euclid, together with high-resolution spectroscopic data and local experiments, can constrain these models. Our analysis combines simulated Euclid data products with astrophysical measurements of the fine-structure constant, α, and local experimental constraints, and it includes both parametric and non-parametric methods. For the astrophysical measurements of α, we consider both the currently available data and a simulated dataset representative of Extremely Large Telescope measurements that are expected to be available in the 2030s. Our parametric analysis shows that in the latter case, the inclusion of astrophysical and local data improves the Euclid dark energy figure of merit by between 8% and 26%, depending on the correct fiducial model, with the improvements being larger in the null case where the fiducial coupling to the electromagnetic sector is vanishing. These improvements would be smaller with the current astrophysical data. Moreover, we illustrate how a genetic algorithms based reconstruction provides a null test for the presence of the coupling. Our results highlight the importance of complementing surveys like Euclid with external data products, in order to accurately test the wider parameter spaces of physically motivated paradigms.

show abstract

Consistency of local and astrophysical tests of the stability of fundamental constants

Cited by 13 publications

References 45 publications

Distinguishing freezing and thawing dark energy models through measurements of the fine-structure constant

Distinguishing freezing and thawing dark energy models through measurements of the fine-structure constant

AEDGE: Atomic Experiment for Dark Matter and Gravity Exploration in Space

Euclid: Constraining dark energy coupled to electromagnetism using astrophysical and laboratory data

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About