Fourier-transform spectroscopy of HD in the vacuum ultraviolet at lambda = 87-112 nm

Absorption spectroscopy in the vacuum ultraviolet (VUV) domain was performed on the hydrogen-deuteride molecule with a novel Fourier-transform spectrometer based upon wavefront division interferometry. This unique instrument, which is a permanent endstation of the undulator-based beamline DESIRS on the synchrotron SOLEIL facility, opens the way to Fourier-transform spectroscopy in the VUV range. The HD spectral lines in the Lyman and Werner bands were recorded in the 87-112 nm range from a quasi-static gas sample in a windowless configuration and with a Doppler-limited resolution. Line positions of some 268 transitions in the [image omitted] Lyman bands and 141 transitions in the [image omitted] Werner bands were deduced with uncertainties of 0.04 cm-1 (1) which correspond to / 4 10-7. This extensive laboratory database is of relevance for comparison with astronomical observations of H2 and HD spectra from highly redshifted objects, with the goal of extracting a possible variation of the proton-to-electron mass ratio ( = mp/me) on a cosmological time scale. For this reason also calculations of the so-called sensitivity coefficients Ki were performed in order to allow for deducing constraints on /. The Ki coefficients, associated with the line shift that each spectral line undergoes as a result of a varying value for , were derived from calculations as a function of solving the Schrodinger equation using ab initio potentials. © 2010 Taylor & Francis.