Related papers: Loop Quantum Cosmology and the Fine Structure Cons…
We study a theory in which the electromagnetic field is disformally coupled to a scalar field, in addition to a usual non-minimal electromagnetic coupling. We show that disformal couplings modify the expression for the fine-structure…
We investigate a link between the running of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ and a time evolving scalar dark energy field. Employing a versatile parameterization for the equation of state, we exhaustively cover the space of dark energy…
Using the BSBM varying-alpha theory, with dark matter dominated by magnetic energy, and the spherical collapse model for cosmological structure formation, we have studied the effects of the dark-energy equation of state and the coupling of…
We consider the problem of the evolution of the fine structure coefficient alpha under the assumption that the scalar field coupling to the Maxwell term satisfies the condition mt>>1 for coherent dark matter oscillations. In this case we…
It has been widely believed that variability of the fine-structure constant alpha would imply detectable violations of the weak equivalence principle. This belief is not justified in general. It is put to rest here in the context of the…
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…
Astrophysical observations suggest that the fine structure constant (alpha) may (or may not) be evolving over the cosmological time scale. This raises a much debated question: is alpha variation due to the variation of the speed of light…
Cosmography is a phenomenological and relatively model-independent approach to cosmology, where physical quantities are expanded as a Taylor series in the cosmological redshift, or in related variables. Here we apply this methodology to…
In this paper, we investigate how the fine structure constant, $\alpha$, locally varies in the presence of a static and spherically symmetric gravitational source. The procedure consists in calculating the solution and the energy…
We study the space-time evolution of the fine structure constant, $\alpha$, inside evolving spherical overdensities in a lambda-CDM Friedmann universe using the spherical infall model. We show that its value inside virialised regions will…
We generalize the Bekenstein-Sandvik-Barrow-Magueijo (BSBM) model for the variation of the fine structure 'constant', $\alpha ,$ to include an exponential or inverse power-law self-potential for the scalar field $% \phi $ which drives the…
Light scalar fields very naturally appear in modern cosmological models, affecting such parameters of Standard Model as electromagnetic fine structure constant $\alpha$, dimensionless ratios of electron or quark mass to the QCD scale,…
There are indications from the study of quasar absorption spectra that the fine structure constant $\alpha$ may have been measurably smaller for redshifts $z>2.$ Analyses of other data ($^{149}$Sm fission rate for the Oklo natural reactor,…
In this work, we consider the so-called $\Lambda(\alpha)$CDM cosmology with $\Lambda\propto\alpha^{-6}$ while the fine-structure "constant" $\alpha$ is varying. In this scenario, the accelerated expansion of the universe is driven by the…
We determine the behaviour of a time-varying fine structure 'constant' $\alpha (t)$ during the early and late phases of universes dominated by the kinetic energy of changing $\alpha (t)$, radiation, dust, curvature, and lambda,…
We study inhomogeneous cosmological variations in the fine structure 'constant', $\alpha ,$ in Friedmann universes. Inhomogeneous motions of the scalar field driving changes in $\alpha $ display spatial oscillations that decrease in…
We study the evolution of the fine-structure constant, $\alpha$, induced by non-linear density perturbations in the context of the simplest class of quintessence models with a non-minimal coupling to the electromagnetic field, in which the…
Astronomical observations are suggesting that the fine structure constant varies cosmologically. We present an analysis on the consequences that these variations might induce on the electromagnetic field as a whole. We show that under these…
Cosmography is a model-independent phenomenological approach to observational cosmology, relying on Taylor series expansions of physical quantities as a function of the cosmological redshift or other analogous variables. A recent work…
Using a gauge-invariant formalism we derive and solve the perturbed cosmological equations for the BSBM theory of varying fine structure 'constant'. We calculate the time evolution of inhomogeneous perturbations of the fine structure…