Sensitivity of the energy levels of singly ionized cobalt to the variation of the fine structure constant

TL;DR

This paper calculates how the energy levels of singly ionized cobalt change with variations in the fine structure constant, aiding the search for fundamental constant variations in astrophysical spectra.

Contribution

It introduces relativistic Hartree-Fock and configuration interaction calculations to quantify cobalt ion energy level sensitivities to the fine structure constant.

Findings

Calculated transition frequency dependencies on the fine structure constant.

Provided data for astrophysical tests of fundamental constant variation.

Abstract

We use relativistic Hartree-Fock and configuration interaction methods to calculate the dependence of transition frequencies for singly ionized cobalt on the fine structure constant. The results are to be used in the search for variation of the fine structure constant in quasar absorption spectra.