https://doi.org/10.1140/epjqt/s40507-022-00130-5
Research
Measuring the stability of fundamental constants with a network of clocks
1
School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, B15 2TT, Birmingham, UK
2
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Sussex, BN1 9QH, Brighton, UK
3
National Physical Laboratory, Hampton Road, TW11 0LW, Teddington, UK
4
Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Clarendon Laboratory, Parks Road, OX1 3PU, Oxford, UK
5
Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Saupfercheckweg 1, 69117, Heidelberg, Germany
6
Laboratoire de Physique des Lasers, CNRS, Université Sorbonne Paris Nord, 99 avenue Jean-Baptiste Clément, 93430, Villetaneuse, France
7
Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London, Prince Consort Road, SW7 2AZ, London, UK
8
Institut für Physik, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Newtonstraße 15, 12489, Berlin, Germany
9
Deutsches Elektronen-Synchrotron (DESY), Platanenallee 6, D-15738, Zeuthen, Germany
10
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Delaware, 19716, Newark, Delaware, USA
11
Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (WPI), The University of Tokyo Institutes for Advanced Study, University of Tokyo, 277-8583, Kashiwa, Chiba, Japan
12
School of Physics, University of Sydney, 2006, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Received:
20
December
2021
Accepted:
25
April
2022
Published online:
11
May
2022
The detection of variations of fundamental constants of the Standard Model would provide us with compelling evidence of new physics, and could lift the veil on the nature of dark matter and dark energy. In this work, we discuss how a network of atomic and molecular clocks can be used to look for such variations with unprecedented sensitivity over a wide range of time scales. This is precisely the goal of the recently launched QSNET project: A network of clocks for measuring the stability of fundamental constants. QSNET will include state-of-the-art atomic clocks, but will also develop next-generation molecular and highly charged ion clocks with enhanced sensitivity to variations of fundamental constants. We describe the technological and scientific aims of QSNET and evaluate its expected performance. We show that in the range of parameters probed by QSNET, either we will discover new physics, or we will impose new constraints on violations of fundamental symmetries and a range of theories beyond the Standard Model, including dark matter and dark energy models.
Key words: Variations of fundamental constants / Atomic and molecular clocks / Networks of quantum sensors / Dark matter / Dark energy / Solitons / Quantum gravity / Grand unification theories / Violation of fundamental symmetries / Physics beyond the Standard Model
© The Author(s) 2022
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.
