Constraints on variation in \alpha and m_e from WMAP 7-year data

LANDAU, SUSANA. J.; SCÓCCOLA, CLAUDIA G.

ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS

EDP SCIENCES S A

Lugar: Paris; Año: 2010 vol. 517 p. 1 - 4

0004-6361

We update the constraints on the time variation of the fine structure constant alpha and the electron mass m_e, using the latest CMB data, including the 7-yr release of WMAP. We made statistical analyses of the variation of each one of the constants and of their joint variation, together with the basic set of cosmological parameters. We used a modified version of CAMB and COSMOMC to account for these possible variations. We present bounds on the variation of the constants for different data sets, and show how results depend on them. When using the latest CMB data plus the power spectrum from Sloan Digital Sky Survey LRG, we find that alpha / alpha_0=0.986 pm 0.007 at 1-sigma level, when the 6 basic cosmological parameters were fitted, and only variation in alpha was allowed. The constraints in the case of variation in both constants are  alpha / alpha_0= 0.986 pm 0.009 and m_e / m_{e0} = 0.999 pm 0.035. In the case of only variation in m_e, the bound is m_e /m_{e0}=0.964 pm 0.025.