The Clock-Ratio Census: Every Factor Hunted in the Clock Sector, Graded Against the Floor Its Own Inputs Set

A frequency ratio between two optical atomic clocks is a pure number with an error bar, and the best of them now carry error bars at a few parts in 10^18. No other laboratory in physics hands you a dimensionless factor that clean. This paper spends the discipline of the factor census (paper D1) on that laboratory. The candidate set was closed before grading: six hunts that the clock literature itself runs - the drift of the fine-structure constant alpha in time, the coupling of alpha to place and to gravitational potential, the drift of the proton-to-electron mass ratio mu, Lorentz-violation coefficients in the clock sector, departures from the gravitational redshift clocks are built to expect, and fifth-force couplings of clock transitions to an ultralight scalar field. Each hunt gets its producing test and the ratio that carries it. Each ratio gets its floor printed as a number: the total stated uncertainty of the measurement that carries the hunt, with the systematic budget read for coherence, not just size. The look-elsewhere count is the published ratio population itself, and it is counted in the open. The result is a ledger. Every hunted factor in the sector is null inside its floor, graded clean, at dated values printed in Section 4. One entry stands above its floor, and it is not a factor: the strontium ratios measured in Boulder in 2021 and again in 2025 disagree by about 14 sigma, roughly 1 x 10^-16, which means at least one campaign's stated floor was wrong about itself. A floor that fails is a laboratory result, not new physics, and this census grades it as one. Ledger: six hunts closed in advance - zero factors above their floors - one floor failure, in the strontium ratios, at 14 sigma - every variation limit in the sector null at its dated size. The paper claims no anomaly and no new physics. Several entries are null results, and a census that cannot print a null has printed nothing.

Authors

Publication Details

Journal
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-10-29
DOI
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23782165
Primary Topic
Advanced Frequency and Time Standards
Type
preprint
Controls
|||
ALL TIME
JAN
FEB
MAR
APR
MAY
JUN
JUL
AUG
SEP
OCT
preprint

The Clock-Ratio Census: Every Factor Hunted in the Clock Sector, Graded Against the Floor Its Own Inputs Set

William Alexander Aldred
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Advanced Frequency and Time Standards
preprint

The Clock-Ratio Census: Every Factor Hunted in the Clock Sector, Graded Against the Floor Its Own Inputs Set

William Alexander Aldred
preprint en

Abstract

A frequency ratio between two optical atomic clocks is a pure number with an error bar, and the best of them now carry error bars at a few parts in 10^18. No other laboratory in physics hands you a dimensionless factor that clean. This paper spends the discipline of the factor census (paper D1) on that laboratory. The candidate set was closed before grading: six hunts that the clock literature itself runs - the drift of the fine-structure constant alpha in time, the coupling of alpha to place and to gravitational potential, the drift of the proton-to-electron mass ratio mu, Lorentz-violation coefficients in the clock sector, departures from the gravitational redshift clocks are built to expect, and fifth-force couplings of clock transitions to an ultralight scalar field. Each hunt gets its producing test and the ratio that carries it. Each ratio gets its floor printed as a number: the total stated uncertainty of the measurement that carries the hunt, with the systematic budget read for coherence, not just size. The look-elsewhere count is the published ratio population itself, and it is counted in the open. The result is a ledger. Every hunted factor in the sector is null inside its floor, graded clean, at dated values printed in Section 4. One entry stands above its floor, and it is not a factor: the strontium ratios measured in Boulder in 2021 and again in 2025 disagree by about 14 sigma, roughly 1 x 10^-16, which means at least one campaign's stated floor was wrong about itself. A floor that fails is a laboratory result, not new physics, and this census grades it as one. Ledger: six hunts closed in advance - zero factors above their floors - one floor failure, in the strontium ratios, at 14 sigma - every variation limit in the sector null at its dated size. The paper claims no anomaly and no new physics. Several entries are null results, and a census that cannot print a null has printed nothing.

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Advanced Frequency and Time Standards
AI Navigator

Ask Laika to Summarize, Analyze, and Connect papers live on the map.

Summarize Papers & Methodologies

Extract key findings, datasets, and comparative methods across publications.

Benchmark Rankings & Visual Analytics

Rank top research institutions, authors, funders, topics, and journals by Field-Weighted Citation Impact (FWCI) and paper volume with instant charts.

Connect Distant Disciplines

Bridge topological clusters on the map to find hidden collaborative intersections.

Laika access coming soon
The Clock-Ratio Census: Every Factor Hunted in the Clock Sector, Graded Against the Floor Its Own Inputs Set — William Alexander Aldred · Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research) (2026) | TGRS Research Map | TGRS