New limits on the possible variation of physical constants

Recent detections of high-redshift absorption by both atomic hydrogen and molecular gas in the radio spectra of quasars have provided a powerful tool for measuring possible temporal and spatial variations of physical 'constants' in the Universe. We compare the frequency of high-redshift hydrogen 21-cm absorption with that of associated molecular absorption in two quasars to place new (1 sigma) upper limits on any variation in y = g(p) alpha(2) (where alpha is the fine-structure constant, and g(p) is the proton g-factor) of \Delta y/y\ < 5 x 10(-6) at redshifts z = 0.25 and 0.68. These quasars are separated by a comoving distance of 3000 Mpc (for H-0=75 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) and q(0) = 0). We also derive limits on the time rates of change of \(g) over dot (p)/(g) over dot (p)\ < 1 x 10(-15) yr(-1) and \(alpha) over dot/(a) over dot\ < 5 x 10(-16) yr(-1) between the present epoch and z = 0.68, These limits are more than an order of magnitude smaller than previous results derived from highredshift measurements.