Related papers: Constraints on time variation of fine structure co…
It is well-known that even high quality cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations are not sufficient on their own to determine the equation of state of the dark energy, due to the effect of the so-called geometric degeneracy at large…
We search for transient variations of the fine structure constant using data from a European network of fiber-linked optical atomic clocks. By searching for coherent variations in the recorded clock frequency comparisons across the network,…
The determination of the Hubble constant has been a central goal in observational astrophysics for nearly 100 years. Extraordinary progress has occurred in recent years on two fronts: the cosmic distance ladder measurements at low redshift…
We briefly review the recent experimental results on possible variations of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ on the cosmological time scale and its position dependence. We outline the theoretical grounds for the assumption that $\alpha$…
WMAP observations have accurately determined the position of the first two peaks and dips in the CMB temperature power spectrum. These encode information on the ratio of the distance to the last scattering surface to the sound horizon at…
Dynamical models of dark energy can imply that the fine structure constant $\alpha$ varies over cosmological time scales. Data on shifts in resonance energies $E_r$ from the Oklo natural fission reactor have been used to place restrictive…
We consider the possibility of the coupling constants of the $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ gauge interactions at the time of big bang nucleosynthesis having taken different values from what we measure at present, and investigate the…
Verification of theoretical predictions of an oscillating behavior of the fine-structure constant, alpha, with cosmic time requires high precision measurements at individual redshifts, while in earlier studies the mean Delta alpha/alpha…
Recently, two issues concerning the three-year WMAP likelihood code were pointed out. On large angular scales ($l \lesssim 30$), a sub-optimal likelihood approximation resulted in a small power excess. On small angular scales ($l \gtrsim…
We have investigated some cosmological consequences of variation of the fine structure constant, $\alpha$, in the context of the Bekenstein-Sandvik-Barrow-Magueijo (BSBM) model. In this context, such a variation is attributed to electric…
Cosmological dark energy is a natural source of variation of the fine structure constant. Using a model-independent approach we show that once general assumptions about the alpha-varying interactions are made, astronomical probes of its…
Cosmological constraints from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies rely on accurate theoretical calculations of the cosmic recombination history. Recent work has emphasized the importance of radiative transfer calculations due…
We study constraints from the latest CMB, large scale structure (2dF, Abell/ACO, PSCz) and SN1a data on dark energy models with a sharp transition in their equation of state, w(z). Such a transition is motivated by models like vacuum…
Despite the success of the standard $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology, recent data improvements have made tensions emerge between low- and high-redshift observables, most importantly in determinations of the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the…
We show that by combining measurements of the temperature and polarization anisotropies of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), future experiments will tightly constrain the expansion rate of the universe during recombination. A change in…
We report new upper limits on any possible long-term time variation of the ratio of the electron to proton masses, $(m_e/m_p)$, the fine-structure constant, ($\alpha$), and the quantity $\alpha^2 g_p(m_e/m_p)$, where $g_p$ is the proton…
We study a phenomenological class of models where dark matter converts to dark radiation in the low redshift epoch. This class of models, dubbed DMDR, characterizes the evolution of comoving dark matter density with two extra parameters,…
Cosmological variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ due to the evolution of a spatially homogeneous ultra-light scalar field ($m \sim H_0$) during the matter and $\Lambda$ dominated eras is analyzed. Agreement of $\Delta…
Weak gravitational lensing of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) changes CMB statistics in a nontrivial way, allowing for reconstruction of the lensing potential and the use of these reconstructed maps in determining cosmological…
Almost a century ago, Hubble discovered the cosmological redshift of extragalactic objects. The Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric was presented as a solution of Einstein's field equations for a homogeneous and isotropic…