Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: A bstract Laboratory and astrophysical tests of “constant variation” have so far concentrated on the dimensionless fine-structure constant α and on the electron or quark mass ratios X e , q = m e , q /Λ QCD , treating the QCD scale Λ QCD as unchangeable. Certain beyond Standard Model frameworks, most notably those with a dark matter or dark energy scalar field ϕ coupling with the gluon field, would make Λ QCD itself time dependent while leaving α and the electron mass untouched. Under the minimal assumption that this gluonic channel is the sole ϕ interaction, we recast state-of-the-art atomic clock comparisons into $$ {\dot{\Lambda}}_{\textrm{QCD}}/{\Lambda}_{\textrm{QCD}} $$ Λ ̇ QCD / Λ QCD = (3.2 ± 3.5) × 10 −17 yr −1 limits, translate the isotope yields of the 1.8-Gyr-old Oklo natural reactor into a complementary geophysical limit of | δ Λ QCD /Λ QCD | < 2 × 10 −9 over that time span, corresponding to the linear drift limit $$ \left|{\dot{\Lambda}}_{\textrm{QCD}}/{\Lambda}_{\textrm{QCD}}\right| $$ Λ ̇ QCD / Λ QCD < 1 × 10 −18 yr −1 , and show that the proposed 8 . 4 eV 229 Th nuclear clock would amplify a putative Λ QCD drift by four orders of magnitude compared with present atomic clocks. We also obtain constraints from quasar absorption spectra and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis data.
Source: Journal of High Energy Physics
Authors: V. V. Flambaum, A. J. Mansour
Institution: UNSW Sydney
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
Funder: Australian Research Council
OpenAlex ID: W4416233033