1 1 M ay 2 00 5 Testing the time dependence of the fundamental constants in the spectra of multicharged ions

Testing the time dependence of the fundamental constants in the spectra of multicharged ions Abstract A new method for measuring a possible time dependence of the fine-structure constant (α) is proposed. The method is based on the level-crossing in two-electron highly-charged ions facilitating resonance laser measurements of the distance between the levels at the point of crossing. This provides an enhancement factor of about 10 3 in Helium-like Europium and thus reduces the requirements for the relative accuracy of resonance laser measurements at about 10 −12 .