Slow atoms make progress on the fine structure constant

Population change in the fine structure levels of cesium atoms using chirped laser

Here, the population transfer between two specific levels of Cesium atomunder the influence of chirped laser source has been numerically investigated. The maingoal of this study is the engineering of the population transfer between the 62S1/2 and 62P1/2levels of Cesium which is corresponding to its D1 transition line using a chirped lasersource. Constructing the system Hamiltonian, as well as t...

The Meaning of the Fine Structure Constant

On the cosmological variation of the fine structure constant

A phenomenological model is proposed to explain the recent observed cosmological variation of the fine structure constant as an effect of the quantum vacuum, assuming a flat universe with cosmological constant Λ in the cases (ΩM ,ΩΛ) equal to (0.3, 0.7) and (1, 0). Because of the fourth Heisenberg relation, the lifetime of the virtual pairs of the zero-point radiation must depend on the gravita...

Time Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant

We present a short review of the current quasar (QSO) absorption line constraints on possible variation of the fine structure constant, α ≡ e 2 /¯ hc. Particular attention is paid to recent optical Keck/HIRES spectra of 49 absorption systems which indicate a smaller α in the past [1, 2]. Here we present new preliminary results from 128 absorption systems: ∆α/α = (−0.57 ± 0.10) × 10 −5 over the ...

Uniqueness of the Fine-structure Constant.