School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales 2052, Australia.
Phys Rev Lett. 2013 Jul 5;111(1):010801. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.111.010801. Epub 2013 Jul 3.
We propose a new probe of the dependence of the fine-structure constant α on a strong gravitational field using metal lines in the spectra of white-dwarf stars. Comparison of laboratory spectra with far-UV astronomical spectra from the white-dwarf star G191-B2B recorded by the Hubble Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph gives limits of Δα/α=(4.2±1.6)×10(-5) and (-6.1±5.8)×10(-5) from FeV and NiV spectra, respectively, at a dimensionless gravitational potential relative to Earth of Δφ≈5×10(-5). With better determinations of the laboratory wavelengths of the lines employed these results could be improved by up to 2 orders of magnitude.
我们提出了一种利用白矮星星谱中的金属谱线来探测精细结构常数α对强引力场依赖关系的新方法。通过将哈勃太空望远镜成像光谱仪记录的白矮星 G191-B2B 的远紫外天体光谱与实验室光谱进行比较，我们分别从 FeV 和 NiV 谱线得到了在无量纲相对地球引力势Δφ≈5×10(-5)下的限制值Δα/α=(4.2±1.6)×10(-5)和(-6.1±5.8)×10(-5)。通过更好地确定所使用谱线的实验室波长，这些结果的精度可以提高 2 个数量级。
