Measuring Variations in the Fundamental Constants with the SKA

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Measuring Variations in the Fundamental Constants
with the SKA
Steve Curran School of Physics University of
New South Wales
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Quasar
To Earth
Hydrogen absorption due to galaxy
Emission lines from the Quasar
Heavy element absorption
DLA
Lyman limit
Observed wavelength (Å)
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Motivation
Optical studies (Webb et al. 2002,
astro-ph/0210531) suggest that
Da/a -0.57(0.10) x 10-5 for 0.2lt zabs lt 3.7
Although Chand et al. 2004 (astro-ph/0401094)
find no change over 0.4lt zabs lt 2.3
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Advantage of Radio Lines
Optical Transitions Interaction is Coulombic,
so nopt is proportional to (1 0.03a2
) (Flambaum Dzuba)
21-cm Spin-Flip (HI) Line Transition Interaction
of electron and proton magnetic fields n21 is
proportional to a2 gp m


That is, comparing radio and optical gives
an order of magnitude the sensitivity of the
purely optical comparisons. See Drinkwater et
al., 1998, MNRAS 295, 457.
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Furthermore, using molecular lines
CO, HCO, etc - n21 / nmm ? a2 gp
OH (18 cm) n1665 n1667 ? a-1.1 m 2.57
n1665 - n1667 ? a-0.9 m 2.4 gp
n1720- n1612 ? a 2.6 m 0.7 gp
also n1667 / nmm ? a-1.1 m 1.57
no gp
Also constraints from other OH (l ? 6 cm)
transitions Chengalur Kanekar,
2003, PRL 91, 241302.
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y a2 gp
High SKA resolution can verify upon which
line-of-sight the absorption occurs
For a constant gp, Da/a 10-6 can be measured for
an individual cloud, thus decent statistics
needed.
Currently ? 46 high z HI 21-cm absorbers 4
known redshifted mm/OH absorbers known
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All current constraints
, MNRAS 327, 1244
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With the SKA
After 1 hour at 1 km/s resolution
Srms 0.2 mJy _at_ 200 MHz
0.04 mJy _at_ 0.5 to 5 GHz
0.01 mJy _at_ 25 GHz
Frequency range 0.1 25 GHz
0H zabs ? 16 HI
zabs ? 13 CO, HCO , HCN zabs ?
2.6
? 13
2.6 - 13
c.f. zabs lt 0.7 for todays HI/molecular
comparisons!
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HI 21-cm Absorption
Dv ? FWHM ? 10 km/s, S ? 0.3 Jy, after 1 hour
NHI ? 2 - 50 x 1014 Ts/f cm-2 (3s) , zabslt
6.
Ts ? 100 K (f 1) ? NHI1017 cm-2
LLSs!
For ? 1020 cm-2 (DLAs) , Tspin ? 105 K or f ?
10-4
Currently 17/34 detected, Tspin ? 104 K (f 1)
Detect HI in 87 known DLAs, plus those ltlt 0.3Jy
as well as gazillions of other absorbers
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Molecular Absorption
Dv ? FWHM ? 10 km/s, S ? 0.1 Jy, after 1 hour
NOH 1012 1014 (0 ? zabs ? 16), Tx10 K _at_ z 0
NCO1013 (zabs ? 3.6), NHCO 1010 (zabs ?
2.6) cm-2
? 10-4 per unit line-width
However, for the 4 known molecular absorbers
0.3 to 1 (from mm, Wiklind Combes) and NOH
1 12 x 1015 cm-2 ? Search for non-optically
selected objects
BUT! From H2-bearing DLAs expect ? 10-4 at
zabs ? 2.6 Curran et al. 2004 (astro-ph/0311357)
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nnnn
Summary

• Detect HI absorption in gt 1/4 of all DLAs as well
  as in all other absorbers with NHI ? 1017 cm-2,
  i.e. a large sample of absorbers of known
  redshifts

• SKA ideal for surveys unbiased by dust
  extinction for HI OH (and possibly high-z mm)
  absorption

Large band-width field of view
? 500 MHz 200 square degrees
SKA will vastly increase number of HI/OH
absorbers yielding redshifts with which to
search for mm-lines (NOH ? 30 x NHCO) with ALMA
? Accurate constraints of various combinations of
a, gp, m