Measurement of the fine structure constant 11 billion years ago using a laser frequency comb and new near-infrared spectrograph

• Project/Area Number: 18K18760
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Medium-sized Section 15:Particle-, nuclear-, astro-physics, and related fields
• Research Institution: Miyagi University of Education
• Principal Investigator: Nishiyaa Shogo 宮城教育大学, 教育学部, 准教授 (20377948)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-06-29 – 2023-03-31
• Project Status: Completed (Fiscal Year 2022)
• Budget Amount: ¥6,240,000 (Direct Cost: ¥4,800,000、Indirect Cost: ¥1,440,000); Fiscal Year 2020: ¥1,300,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,000,000、Indirect Cost: ¥300,000); Fiscal Year 2019: ¥2,210,000 (Direct Cost: ¥1,700,000、Indirect Cost: ¥510,000); Fiscal Year 2018: ¥2,730,000 (Direct Cost: ¥2,100,000、Indirect Cost: ¥630,000)
• Keywords: 天文学 / クエーサー / 赤外線 / 分光 / 物理定数 / クェーサー

Outline of Final Research Achievements

We planned to observe QSO, and measure the fine structure constant 11 billion years ago. However, due to the spread of the Covid-19 infection, the development of the new laser guide star system on the Subaru telescope has delayed, and we could not observe the QSO.
We observed stars at the center of our Milky Way galaxy, to measure the fine structure constant in the condition of strong gravity. This is the first study of the variation of the fine structure constant under strong gravity. We found no variation in the constant, and obtained a constraint on the constant of 6 x 10^-6. We also observed stars between the Earth and the center of our Galaxy, and found no variation of the fine structure constant. The constraints we obtained are about 10^-4.

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

現在の理論は、微細構造定数を含む物理定数が宇宙の歴史で変わらない、と仮定している。もしこの仮定が間違っていたら、様々な理論を再検証する必要がでてくる。
本研究は当初、宇宙初期(約110億年前)の微細構造定数の測定を目標にしていた。しかし新型コロナウイルスの影響で、装置の開発が遅れ、観測を実行できなかった。そのため、巨大ブラックホールの近くの強い重力場、という別の極端な環境での物理定数(微細構造定数)の変化の検証を行った。私たちの研究は、強重力場という極端な環境での初めての検証である。そのような環境でも、微細構造定数は変化していない、という結論が得られた。

Research Products

• [Int'l Joint Research] University of California, Los Angels(米国)
• [Int'l Joint Research] ソルボンヌ大学(フランス)
• [Int'l Joint Research] カリフォルニア大学ロサンゼルス校(米国)
• [Journal Article] Fiber-fed high-resolution infrared spectroscopy at the diffraction limit with Keck-HISPEC and TMT-MODHIS: status update (2022)
  • Author(s): Mawet, Dimitri、 Fitzgerald, Michael P.、et al.
  • Journal Title: Proceedings of the SPIE Volume: 12184 Pages: 61-61
  • DOI: 10.1117/12.2630142
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] AO3000 at Subaru: combining for the first time a NIR WFS using First Light’s C-RED ONE and ALPAO’s 64x64 DM (2022)
  • Author(s): Lozi Julien、Ahn Kyohoon、Clergeon Christophe、Deo Vincent、Guyon Olivier、Hattori Takashi、Minowa Yosuke、Nishiyama Shogo、Ono Yoshito .、Vievard Sebastien
  • Journal Title: SPIE Proceedings Volume: 12185 Pages: 1218533-1218533
  • DOI: 10.1117/12.2630634
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] The WISSH quasars project. X. Discovery of a multi-component and highly variable UV ultra-fast outflow in a z = 3.6 quasar (2022)
  • Author(s): Vietri, G.; Misawa, T.; et al.
  • Journal Title: Astronomy & Astrophysics Volume: 668
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] The physical origin for spatially large scatter of IGM opacity at the end of reionization: The IGM Lyα opacity-galaxy density relation (2022)
  • Author(s): Ishimoto Rikako、Kashikawa Nobunari、Kashino Daichi、Ito Kei、Liang Yongming、Cai Zheng、Yoshioka Takehiro、Okoshi Katsuya、Misawa Toru、Onoue Masafusa、Takeda Yoshihiro、Uchiyama Hisakazu
  • Journal Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume: 515 Issue: 4 Pages: 5914-5926
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stac1972
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Exploratory Study of the Transverse Proximity Effect around BAL Quasars (2022)
  • Author(s): Misawa Toru、Ishimoto Rikako、Kobu Satoshi、Kashikawa Nobunari、Okoshi Katsuya、Noboriguchi Akatoki、Schramm Malte、Liu Qiang
  • Journal Title: The Astrophysical Journal Volume: 933 Issue: 2 Pages: 239-239
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac7715
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Testing Fundamental Physics With Stellar Orbits at the Galactic Center (2021)
  • Author(s): Do, T.; Hees, A.; Ghez, A.; et al.
  • Journal Title: Astronomical Society of the Pacific Volume: 528 Pages: 249-254
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] The COS-legacy survey of C?<scp>iv</scp> absorbers: properties and origins of the intervening systems (2021)
  • Author(s): Manuwal Aditya、Narayanan Anand、Udhwani Purvi、Srianand Raghunathan、Savage Blair D、Charlton Jane C、Misawa Toru
  • Journal Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume: 505 Issue: 3 Pages: 3635-3654
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab1556
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] The X-rays wind connection in PG?2112+059 (2021)
  • Author(s): Saez C、Brandt W N、Bauer F E、Chartas G、Misawa T、Hamann F、Gallagher S C
  • Journal Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume: 506 Issue: 1 Pages: 343-356
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stab1706
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Multiple Mg ii Absorption Systems in the Lines of Sight to Quadruply Lensed Quasar H1413+1143 (2021)
  • Author(s): Okoshi Katsuya、Minowa Yosuke、Kashikawa Nobunari、Misawa Toru、Kashino Daichi、Sugai Hajime、Matsubayashi Kazuya、Shimono Atsushi、Ozaki Shinobu
  • Journal Title: The Astronomical Journal Volume: 162 Issue: 5 Pages: 175-175
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ac0bbb
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] MCMC-based Voigt Profile Fitting to a Mini-BAL System in the Quasar UM 675* † (2021)
  • Author(s): Ishita Dai、Misawa Toru、Itoh Daisuke、Charlton Jane C.、Eracleous Michael
  • Journal Title: The Astrophysical Journal Volume: 921 Issue: 2 Pages: 119-119
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac14b4
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Andrea Ghez教授と巨大ブラックホール：ノーベル物理学賞受賞によせて (2021)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Journal Title: 天文月報 Volume: 114 Pages: 12-15
  • Open Access
• [Journal Article] A Comparison of Properties of Quasars with and without Rapid Broad Absorption Line Variability (2020)
  • Author(s): Horiuchi Takashi、Morokuma Tomoki、Misawa Toru、Hanayama Hidekazu、Kawaguchi Toshihiro
  • Journal Title: The Astronomical Journal Volume: 159 Issue: 5 Pages: 237-237
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ab83f5
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] Search for intrinsic NALs in BAL/mini-BAL quasar spectra (2020)
  • Author(s): Itoh, Daisuke; Misawa, Toru; Horiuchi, Takashi; Aoki, Kentaro Abstract
  • Journal Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume: 499 Issue: 3 Pages: 3094-3110
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa2793
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Mg ii and Fe ii Fluxes of Luminous Quasars at z ? 2.7 and the Evaluation of the Baldwin Effect in the Flux-to-abundance Conversion Method for Quasars (2020)
  • Author(s): Sameshima Hiroaki、Yoshii Yuzuru、Matsunaga Noriyuki、Kobayashi Naoto、Ikeda Yuji、Kondo Sohei、Hamano Satoshi、Mizumoto Misaki、Arai Akira、Yasui Chikako、Fukue Kei、Kawakita Hideyo、Otsubo Shogo、Bono Giuseppe、Saviane Ivo
  • Journal Title: The Astrophysical Journal Volume: 904 Issue: 2 Pages: 162-162
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/abc33b
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] The effect of surface gravity on line-depth ratios in the wavelength range 0.97?1.32?μm (2020)
  • Author(s): Jian Mingjie、Taniguchi Daisuke、Matsunaga Noriyuki、Kobayashi Naoto、Ikeda Yuji、Yasui Chikako、Kondo Sohei、Sameshima Hiroaki、Hamano Satoshi、Fukue Kei、Arai Akira、Otsubo Shogo、Kawakita Hideyo
  • Journal Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume: 494 Issue: 2 Pages: 1724-1734
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/staa834
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Search for a Variation of the Fine Structure Constant around the Supermassive Black Hole in Our Galactic Center (2020)
  • Author(s): Hees A.、Do T.、Roberts B.M.、Ghez A.M.、Nishiyama S.、Bentley R.O.、Gautam A.K.、Jia S.、Kara T.、Lu J.R.、Saida H.、Sakai S.、Takahashi M.、Takamori Y.
  • Journal Title: Physical Review Letters Volume: 124 Issue: 8 Pages: 081101-081101
  • DOI: 10.1103/physrevlett.124.081101
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] A significant feature in the general relativistic time evolution of the redshift of photons coming from a star orbiting Sgr?A* (2019)
  • Author(s): Saida Hiromi、Nishiyama Shogo、Ohgami Takayuki、Takamori Yohsuke、Takahashi Masaaki、Minowa Yosuke、Najarro Francisco、Hamano Satoshi、Omiya Masashi、Iwamatsu Atsushi、Takahashi Mizuki、Gorin Haruka、Kara Tomohiro、Koyama Akinori、Ohashi Yosuke、Tamura Motohide、Nagatomo Schun、Zenko Tetsuya、Nagata Tetsuya
  • Journal Title: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan Volume: 71 Issue: 6 Pages: 120-120
  • DOI: 10.1093/pasj/psz111
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Probing quasar winds using intrinsic narrow absorption lines (2019)
  • Author(s): Culliton Chris、Charlton Jane、Eracleous Mike、Ganguly Rajib、Misawa Toru
  • Journal Title: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Volume: 488 Issue: 4 Pages: 4690-4731
  • DOI: 10.1093/mnras/stz1642
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] The effect of our local motion on the Sandage-Loeb test of the cosmic expansion (2019)
  • Author(s): Takuya Inoue, Eiichiro Komatsu, Wako Aoki, Takeshi Chiba, Toru Misawa, Tomonori Usuda
  • Journal Title: Publications of the Astronomical Society of Japan Volume: 72 Issue: 1 Pages: 1-6
  • DOI: 10.1093/pasj/psz131
  • Peer Reviewed / Open Access
• [Journal Article] First Detection of A-X (0,0) Bands of Interstellar C2 and CN (2019)
  • Author(s): Hamano Satoshi、Kawakita Hideyo、Kobayashi Naoto、Takenaka Keiichi、Ikeda Yuji、Matsunaga Noriyuki、Kondo Sohei、Sameshima Hiroaki、Fukue Kei、Yasui Chikako、Mizumoto Misaki、Otsubo Shogo、Watase Ayaka、Yoshikawa Tomohiro、Kobayashi Hitomi
  • Journal Title: The Astrophysical Journal Volume: 881 Issue: 2 Pages: 143-143
  • DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ab2e0f
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Journal Article] The infrared Doppler (IRD) instrument for the Subaru telescope: instrument description and commissioning results (2018)
  • Author(s): T. Kotani, M. Tamura, J. Nishikawa, A. Ueda, M. Kuzuhara, M. Omiya, J. Hashimoto, M. Ishizuka, T. Hirano, H. Suto, T. Kurokawa, T. Kokubo, T. Mori, Y. Tanaka, K. Kashiwagi, M. Konishi, T. Kudo, B. Sato, S. Jacobson, K. W. Hodapp, D. B. Hall, W. Aoki, T. Usuda, S. Nishiyama, et al.
  • Journal Title: Proceedings of the SPIE Volume: 10702 Pages: 11-18
  • DOI: 10.1117/12.2311836
  • Peer Reviewed / Int'l Joint Research
• [Journal Article] Correction of Near-infrared High-resolution Spectra for Telluric Absorption at 0.90-1.35 μm (2018)
  • Author(s): Sameshima, H., Matsunaga, N., Kobayashi, N., Kawakita, H., Hamano, S., Ikeda, Y., Kondo, S., Fukue, K., Taniguchi, D., Mizumoto, M., Arai, A., Otsubo, S., Takenaka, K., Watase, A., Asano, A., Yasui, C., Izumi, N., Yoshikawa, T.
  • Journal Title: Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific Volume: 989 Issue: 989 Pages: 074502-074502
  • DOI: 10.1088/1538-3873/aac1b4
  • Peer Reviewed
• [Presentation] An Old Star Very Close to the Galactic Supermassive Black Hole (2022)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: Subaru Users Meeting FY2021
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 星の近赤外線スペクトルを用いた、強重力環境における物理法則の検証 (2021)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: 第26回天体スペクトル研究会
• [Presentation] KバンドのLine Depth Ratioを用いた晩期型巨星の有効温度の決定 (2021)
  • Author(s): 吉原実祈、西山正吾
  • Organizer: 第26回天体スペクトル研究会
• [Presentation] 銀河系の中心にある大質量コンパクト天体の発見 (2021)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: ブラックホール磁気圏研究会2021
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Nuclear Star Cluster and Hidden Clusters at the Galactic Center (2020)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: JASMINE Consortium Meeting 2020
  • Invited
• [Presentation] 近赤外線観測による銀河系中心領域の研究 (2020)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: 天の川銀河研究会2020
  • Invited
• [Presentation] Metallicity of late-type stars very close to the Galactic supermassive black hole (2019)
  • Author(s): Shogo Nishiyama
  • Organizer: New Horizons in Galactic Center Astronomy and Beyond
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 銀河系中心核バルジの隠れた星団の探索 (2019)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: JASMINE Consortium Kick-off Meeting
• [Presentation] 近赤外線広視野観測による銀河系バルジの研究 (2019)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: (近)赤外線広視野サイエンスワークショップ
• [Presentation] 巨大ブラックホールを周回する星を用いた、ブラックホール重力場における相対論効果の検出 (2019)
  • Author(s): 西山正吾
  • Organizer: 「超巨大ブラックホール研究推進連絡会」第６回ワークショップ
• [Presentation] Properties of Narrow Absorption Line Systems in AGN Outflow (2019)
  • Author(s): T. Misawa, M. Eracleous, J. C. Charlton, N. Kashikawa, C. Saez, G. Chartas, F. E. Bauer, N. Inada, H. Uchiyama
  • Organizer: Subaru 20th Anniversary
  • Int'l Joint Research
• [Presentation] 近赤外線高分散分光器WINERED: データ解析パイプラインの開発 (2019)
  • Author(s): 濱野哲史, 近藤荘平, 鮫島寛明, 福江慧, 新井彰, 河北秀世, 大坪翔悟, 竹中慶一, 渡瀬彩華, 池田優二, 小林尚人, 松永典之, 安井千香 子
  • Organizer: 日本天文学会2019年春季年会
• [Presentation] Diffuse Interstellar Bands: Cosmic Shadow of Interstellar Molecules (2018)
  • Author(s): 濱野哲史
  • Organizer: Cosmic Shadow 2018 -クェーサー吸収線系でみる宇宙-
• [Presentation] WINERED: Current status, Problems & Upcoming Updates (2018)
  • Author(s): 濱野哲史
  • Organizer: WINERED研究会2018
• [Book] すばる望遠鏡とTMTが結ぶ新たな宇宙像 (2020)
  • Author(s): 青木和光 他(編), 西山正吾(分担執筆)
  • Total Pages: 92
  • Publisher: 自然科学研究機構国立天文台
• [Remarks] Constants Still Constant Near Black Holes
  • URL: https://physics.aps.org/articles/v13/s28