Related papers: The Fine Structure Constant and Habitable Planets
The conditions that a planet must fulfill to be habitable are not precisely known. However, it is comparatively easier to define conditions under which a planet is very likely not habitable. Finding such conditions is important as it can…
We study atomic systems that are in the frequency range of optical atomic clocks and have enhanced sensitivity to potential time-variation of the fine structure constant, alpha. The high sensitivity is due to coherent contributions from…
In a multiverse setting, we expect to be situated in a universe that is exceptionally good at producing life. Though the conditions for what life needs to arise and thrive are currently unknown, many will be tested in the coming decades.…
Motivated by the possible existence of other universes, with possible variations in the laws of physics, this paper explores the parameter space of fundamental constants that allows for the existence of stars. To make this problem…
Astrophysical observations reveal a large diversity of radii and masses of exoplanets. It is important to characterize the interiors of exoplanets to understand planetary diversity and further determine how unique, or not, Earth is.…
We forecast the ability of future CMB and galaxy lensing surveys to constrain variations of the fine structure constant. We found that lensing data, as those expected from satellite experiments as Euclid could improve the constraint from…
Light traveling through the vacuum interacts with vacuum fluctuations similarly to the way that light traveling through a dielectric interacts with ordinary matter. And just as the permittivity of a dielectric can be calculated, the…
A universe without weak interactions is constructed that undergoes big-bang nucleosynthesis, matter domination, structure formation, and star formation. The stars in this universe are able to burn for billions of years, synthesize elements…
The climate of a planet can be strongly affected by its eccentricity due to variations in the stellar flux. There are two limits for the dependence of the inner habitable zone boundary (IHZ) on eccentricity: (1) the mean-stellar flux…
In this paper the aging of the Universe is investigated in the frame of quantum hyperbolic heat transport equation. For the open universe, when t to \infty, hbar to \infty, c to 0 and fine structure constant alpha is constant. Key words:…
We compute primordial light-element abundances for cases with fine structure constant alpha different from the present value, including many sources of alpha dependence neglected in previous calculations. Specifically, we consider…
We study dependence of the CMB temperature anisotropy spectrum on the value of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ and the equation of state of the dark energy component of the total density of the universe. We find that bounds imposed on…
The possible variation of the fine structure constant may be due to the non-minimal coupling of the electromagnetic field to a light scalar field which can be the candidate of dark energy. Its dynamical nature renders the fine structure…
We explore the potential multistability of the climate for a planet around the habitable zone. We focus on conditions reminiscent to those of the Earth system, but our investigation aims at presenting a general methodology for dealing with…
Calculation of the Dirac hydrogen atom spectrum in the framework of dynamical fine structure constant (alpha) variability discloses a small departure in the laboratory from Sommerfeld's formula for the fine structure shifts, possibly…
A theory of special inconstancy, in which some fundamental physical constants such as the fine-structure and gravitational constants may vary, is proposed in pregeometry. In the special theory of inconstancy, the \alpha-G relation of…
Terrestrial planets are more likely to be detected if they orbit M dwarfs due to the favorable planet/star size and mass ratios. However, M dwarf habitable zones are significantly closer to the star than the one around our Sun, which leads…
Webb et al. presented preliminary evidence for a time-varying fine-structure constant. We show Teller's formula for this variation to be ruled out within the Einstein-de Sitter universe, however, it is compatible with cosmologies which…
By employing Dirac LNH, and a further generalization by Berman (GLNH), we estimate how should vary the total number of nucleons, the energy density, Newton Gravitational constant, the cosmological constant, the magnetic permeability and…
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,…