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2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

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

Research Project

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Project/Area Number 18K18760
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Research (Exploratory)

Allocation TypeMulti-year Fund
Review Section Medium-sized Section 15:Particle-, nuclear-, astro-physics, and related fields
Research InstitutionMiyagi 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
Keywords天文学 / クエーサー / 赤外線 / 分光 / 物理定数
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.

Free Research Field

Astrophysics

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。

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Published: 2024-01-30  

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