Fine Structure Anomalies and Search for Variation of the Fine Structure Constant in Laborat.pdfVIP

Fine Structure Anomalies and Search for Variation of the Fine Structure Constant in Laboratory Experiments 5 0 1∗ 1 2† V. A. Dzuba and V. V. Flambaum , 0 1 2 2 School of Physics, University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052, Australia Physics Division, Argonne National Laboratory, Argonne, Illinois 60439-4843, USA t c (Dated: February 2, 2008) O Configuration interaction in many-electron atoms may cause anomalies in the fine structure which make the intervals small and very sensitive to variation of the fine structure constant. Repeated 0 1 precision measurements of these intervals over long period of time can put strong constrain on possible time variation of the fine structure constant. We consider the 5p4 3P2,1,0 fine structure ] multiplet in the ground state of neutral tellurium as an example. Here the effect of change of the h fine structure constant is enhanced about one hundred times in the relative change of the small p energy interval between the 3P1 and 3P0 states. - m PACS numbers: PACS: 31.25.-v, 31.25.Eb, 31.25.Jf o t a. I. INTRODUCTION prosium are currently underway at Berkeley [11]. s While it is hard to find anything better than dyspro- c i The possibility of fundamenta