Transitions in Zr, Hf, Ta, W, Re, Hg, Ac and U ions with high sensitivity to variation of the fine-structure constant

TL;DR

This paper investigates specific electronic transitions in heavy ions that are highly sensitive to potential variations in the fine-structure constant, aiming to facilitate laboratory tests for fundamental physics changes.

Contribution

It identifies and analyzes particular s-d and s^2-d^2 transitions in heavy ions as promising candidates for detecting variations in the fine-structure constant.

Findings

Certain heavy ion transitions exhibit high sensitivity to alpha variation.

These transitions can be used in laboratory experiments to test fundamental physics.

The study provides a theoretical basis for future experimental searches.

Abstract

We study transitions between ground and low-energy excited states of heavy ions corresponding to s-d single-electron transitions or s^2-d^2 double-electron transitions. The large nuclear charge Z and significant change in angular momentum of electron orbitals make these transitions highly sensitive to a potential variation in the fine-structure constant, alpha. The transitions may be considered as candidates for laboratory searches for space-time variation of alpha.