Constraints of $Δμ/μ$ based on H$_2$ observations in QSO spectra at high redshifts

Abstract

This article summarizes the latest results on the proton-to-electron mass ratio $μ$ derived from H$_2$ observations at high redshift in the light of possible variations of fundamental physical constants. The focus lies on UVES observations of the past years as enormous progress was achieved since the first positive results on $Δμ/μ$ were published. With the better understanding of systematics, dedicated observation runs, and numerous approaches to improve wavelength calibration accuracy, all current findings are in reasonable good agreement with no variation and provide an upper limit of $Δμ/μ< 1\times 10^{-5}$ for the redshift range of $2 <$ z $< 3$.

6 pages, 5 figures. To appear in Proceedings of the Sesto Conference on Varying fundamental constants and dynamical dark energy (Sesto, Italy, July 8-13, 2013)