Varying Constants
Astrophysics
2009-11-13 v1 General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Abstract
We review properties of theories for the variation of the gravitation and fine structure 'constants'. We highlight some general features of the cosmological models that exist in these theories with reference to recent quasar data that are consistent with time-variation in the fine structure 'constant' since a redshift of 3.5. The behaviour of a simple class of varying-alpha cosmologies is outlined in the light of all the observational constraints.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0511440,
title = {Varying Constants},
author = {John D. Barrow},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0511440},
year = {2009}
}
Comments
16 pages, no figures. Talk delivered at the Royal Society Discussion Meeting on 'The Fundamental Constants of Physics, Precision Measurements and the Base Units of SI', London, Feb. 14-15 (2005)