MG13 - Talk detail |
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Participant |
Webb, John | |||||||
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Institution |
School of Physics, University of New South Wales - Kensington - Sydney - NSW - Australia | |||||||
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Session |
EG2 |
Accepted |
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Order |
Time |
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Talk |
Oral abstract |
Title |
Possible spatial variation of the fine-structure constant | |||||
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Abstract |
We previously reported Keck telescope observations suggesting a smaller value of the fine structure constant, alpha, at high redshift. New VLT data, probing a different direction in the universe, shows an inverse evolution; alpha increases at high redshift. The combined dataset fits a spatial dipole, significant at the 4.2-sigma level, in the direction right ascension 17.5 +/- 0.9 hours, declination -58 +/- 9 degrees. The independent VLT and Keck samples give consistent dipole directions and amplitudes, as do high and low redshift samples. A search for systematics, using observations duplicated at both telescopes, reveals none so far which emulate this result. |
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