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Enhanced sensitivity to a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio in ammonia

Owens, A; Yurchenko, SN; Thiel, W; Špirko, V; (2016) Enhanced sensitivity to a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio in ammonia. Physical Review A - Atomic, Molecular, and Optical Physics , 93 (5) , Article 052506. 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.052506. Green open access

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Abstract

Numerous accidental near degeneracies exist between the 2ν2 and ν4 rotation-vibration energy levels of ammonia. Transitions between these two states possess significantly enhanced sensitivity to a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio μ. Using a robust variational approach to determine the mass sensitivity of the energy levels along with accurate experimental values for the energies, sensitivity coefficients have been calculated for over 350 microwave, submillimeter, and far-infrared transitions up to J=15 for NH314. The sensitivities are the largest found in ammonia to date. One particular transition, although extremely weak, has a sensitivity of T=-16738 and illustrates the huge enhancement that can occur between close-lying energy levels. More promising however are a set of previously measured transitions with T=-32 to 28. Given the astrophysical importance of ammonia, the sensitivities presented here confirm that NH314 can be used exclusively to constrain a spatial or temporal variation of μ. Thus certain systematic errors which affect the ammonia method can be eliminated. For all transitions analyzed we provide frequency data and Einstein A coefficients to guide future laboratory and astronomical observations.

Type: Article
Title: Enhanced sensitivity to a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio in ammonia
Open access status: An open access version is available from UCL Discovery
DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevA.93.052506
Publisher version: http://dx.doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevA.93.052506
Language: English
Additional information: Copyright © 2016 American Physical Society.
UCL classification: UCL
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences
UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy
URI: https://discovery-pp.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/1494825
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