Planck intermediate results XXIV. Constraints on variations in fundamental constants

P. A. R. Ade , N. Aghanim (1) , M. Arnaud (2) , M. Ashdown , J. Aumont (1) , C. Baccigalupi , A. J. Banday (3) , R. B. Barreiro , E. Battaner , K. Benabed (4) , A. Benoit-Lévy (4) , J.-P. Bernard (3) , M. Bersanelli , P. Bielewicz (3) , J. R. Bond , J. Borrill , F. R. Bouchet (4) , C. Burigana , R. C. Butler , E. Calabrese , A. Chamballu (5, 1, 2) , H. C. Chiang , P. R. Christensen , D. L. Clements , L. P. L. Colombo , F. Couchot (6) , A. Curto , F. Cuttaia , L. Danese , R. D. Davies , R. J. Davis , P. de Bernardis , A. de Rosa , G. de Zotti , J. Delabrouille (7) , J. M. Diego , H. Dole (8, 1) , O. Doré , X. Dupac , T. A. Ensslin , H. K. Eriksen , O. Fabre (4) , F. Finelli , O. Forni (3) , M. Frailis , E. Franceschi , S. Galeotta , S. Galli (4) , K. Ganga (7) , M. Giard (3) , J. González-Nuevo , K. M. Górski , A. Gregorio , A. Gruppuso , F. K. Hansen , D. Hanson , D. L. Harrison , S. Henrot-Versillé (6) , C. Hernández-Monteagudo , D. Herranz , S. R. Hildebrandt , E. Hivon (4) , M. Hobson , W. A. Holmes , A. Hornstrup , W. Hovest , K. M. Huffenberger , A. H. Jaffe , W. C. Jones , E. Keihänen , R. Keskitalo , R. Kneissl , J. Knoche , M. Kunz (1) , H. Kurki-Suonio , J.-M. Lamarre (9) , A. Lasenby , C. R. Lawrence , R. Leonardi , J. Lesgourgues , M. Liguori , P. B. Lilje , M. Linden-Vørnle , M. López-Caniego , P. M. Lubin , J.F. Macías-Pérez (10) , N. Mandolesi , M. Maris , P. G. Martin , E. Martínez-González , S. Masi , S. Matarrese , P. Mazzotta , P. R. Meinhold , A. Melchiorri , L. Mendes , E. Menegoni (11) , A. Mennella , M. Migliaccio , M.-A. Miville-Deschênes (1) , A. Moneti (4) , L. Montier (3) , G. Morgante , A. Moss , D. Munshi , J. A. Murphy , P. Naselsky , F. Nati , P. Natoli , H. U. Nørgaard-Nielsen , F. Noviello , D. Novikov , I. Novikov , C. A. Oxborrow , L. Pagano , F. Pajot (1) , D. Paoletti , F. Pasian , G. Patanchon (7) , O. Perdereau (6) , L. Perotto (10) , F. Perrotta , F. Piacentini , M. Piat (7) , E. Pierpaoli , D. Pietrobon , S. Plaszczynski (6) , E. Pointecouteau (3) , G. Polenta , N. Ponthieu (12, 1) , L. Popa , G. W. Pratt (2) , S. Prunet (4) , J. P. Rachen , R. Rebolo , M. Reinecke , M. Remazeilles (7, 1) , C. Renault (10) , S. Ricciardi , I. Ristorcelli (3) , G. Rocha , G. Roudier (7, 9) , B. Rusholme , M. Sandri , G. Savini , D. Scott , L. D. Spencer , V. Stolyarov , R. Sudiwala , D. Sutton , A.-S. Suur-Uski , J.-F. Sygnet (4) , J. A. Tauber , D. Tavagnacco , L. Terenzi , L. Toffolatti , M. Tomasi , M. Tristram (6) , M. Tucci (6) , J.-P. Uzan (4) , L. Valenziano , J. Valiviita , B. van Tent (13) , P. Vielva , Francesca Villa , L. A. Wade , D. Yvon , A. Zacchei , A. Zonca

1 IAS - Institut d'astrophysique spatiale
2 AIM (UMR7158 / UMR_E_9005 / UM_112) - Astrophysique Interprétation Modélisation
3 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
4 IAP - Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris
5 DPhP - Département de Physique des Particules (ex SPP)
6 LAL - Laboratoire de l'Accélérateur Linéaire
7 APC (UMR_7164) - AstroParticule et Cosmologie
8 IUF - Institut Universitaire de France
9 LERMA - Laboratoire d'Etude du Rayonnement et de la Matière en Astrophysique
10 LPSC - Laboratoire de Physique Subatomique et de Cosmologie
11 LUTH (UMR_8102) - Laboratoire Univers et Théories
12 IPAG - Institut de Planétologie et d'Astrophysique de Grenoble
13 LPT - Laboratoire de Physique Théorique d'Orsay [Orsay]

Any variation in the fundamental physical constants, more particularly in the fine structure constant, α, or in the mass of the electron, me, affects the recombination history of the Universe and cause an imprint on the cosmic microwave background angular power spectra. We show that the Planck data allow one to improve the constraint on the time variation of the fine structure constant at redshift z ~ 103 by about a factor of 5 compared to WMAP data, as well as to break the degeneracy with the Hubble constant, H0. In addition to α, we can set a constraint on the variation in the mass of the electron, me, and in the simultaneous variation of the two constants. We examine in detail the degeneracies between fundamental constants and the cosmological parameters, in order to compare the limits obtained from Planck and WMAP and to determine the constraining power gained by including other cosmological probes. We conclude that independent time variations of the fine structure constant and of the mass of the electron are constrained by Planck to Δα/α = (3.6 ± 3.7) × 10-3 and Δme/me = (4 ± 11) × 10-3 at the 68% confidence level. We also investigate the possibility of a spatial variation of the fine structure constant. The relative amplitude of a dipolar spatial variation in α (corresponding to a gradient across our Hubble volume) is constrained to be δα/α = (−2.4 ± 3.7) × 10-2.

Keywords: atomic data; cosmology: observations; cosmic background radiation; cosmological parameters

Domains: Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.GA]; Galactic Astrophysics [astro-ph.GA]; Astrophysics [astro-ph]

P. A. R. Ade, N. Aghanim, M. Arnaud, M. Ashdown, J. Aumont, et al.. Planck intermediate results XXIV. Constraints on variations in fundamental constants. Astronomy and Astrophysics - A&A, 2015, 580, pp.A22. ⟨10.1051/0004-6361/201424496⟩. ⟨cea-01383655⟩