School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
Phys Rev Lett. 2011 Nov 4;107(19):191101. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.107.191101. Epub 2011 Oct 31.
We previously reported Keck telescope observations suggesting a smaller value of the fine structure constant α at high redshift. New Very Large Telescope (VLT) data, probing a different direction in the Universe, shows an inverse evolution; α increases at high redshift. Although the pattern could be due to as yet undetected systematic effects, with the systematics as presently understood the combined data set fits a spatial dipole, significant at the 4.2 σ level, in the direction right ascension 17.5 ± 0.9 h, declination -58 ± 9 deg. The independent VLT and Keck samples give consistent dipole directions and amplitudes, as do high and low redshift samples. A search for systematics, using observations duplicated at both telescopes, reveals none so far which emulate this result.
我们之前曾报道过凯克望远镜的观测结果，表明在高红移处精细结构常数α的值较小。新的甚大望远镜（VLT）数据探测到了宇宙中不同方向的反演；α在高红移处增加。尽管这种模式可能是由于尚未检测到的系统效应，但根据目前的理解，综合数据集拟合了一个空间偶极子，在方向上右升序 17.5 ± 0.9 h，赤纬-58 ± 9 度，在 4.2σ 水平上具有显著意义。独立的 VLT 和 Keck 样本给出了一致的偶极方向和幅度，高红移和低红移样本也是如此。使用在两个望远镜上重复观测的方法进行系统搜索，目前尚未发现任何可以模拟此结果的系统。
