Enhanced Sensitivity to Variation of m(e)/m(p) in molecular spectra.
We propose new experiments with high sensitivity to a possible variation of the electron-to-proton mass ratio mu identical with m(e)/m(p). We consider a nearly degenerate pair of molecular vibrational levels, each associated with a different electronic potential. With respect to a change in mu, the change in the splitting between such levels can be large both on an absolute scale and relative to the splitting. We demonstrate the existence of such pairs of states in Cs2, where the narrow spectral lines achievable with ultracold molecules make the system promising for future searches for small variations in mu.
DeMille
D
D
Department of Physics, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut 06520, USA.
Sainis
S
S
Sage
J
J
Bergeman
T
T
Kotochigova
S
S
Tiesinga
E
E