Related papers: Can a changing $\alpha$ explain the Supernovae res…
Supernovae play a large but poorly understood role in our attempts to explain the evolution of the baryonic universe. Numerous observations throughout astronomy cannot be explained if we neglect their influence, yet our quantitative…
We explain an accelerated expansion of the present universe, suggested from observations of supernovae of type Ia at high redshift, by introducing an anti-frictional force that is self-consistently exerted on the particles of the cosmic…
We explore the possibility that the reported time variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ is due to a coupling between electromagnetism and gravitation. This may reconcile the claimed results on $\alpha$ with the upper limit from…
The observed luminosity deficit of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) at high redshift z can be explained by partial conversion to weak vector bosons of photons crossing large-scale electroweak domain boundaries, making Hubble acceleration only…
The magnitude-redshift relation is one of the tools for a direct observational approach to cosmology. The discovery of high redshift Type Ia supernovae (SNIa) and their use as ``standard candles'' has resurrected interest in this approach.…
In this note we observe that Webb and co-workers' observation of an evolving fine structure constant has since been reconfirmed. We also confirm Kuhne's contention that this implies a cosmological constant and exhibit a cosmological…
The recent observations of type Ia supernovae suggest that the universe is accelerating now and decelerated in the recent past. This may be the evidence of the breakdown of the standard Friedmann equation. The Friedmann equation $H^2\sim…
We study the detailed evolution of the fine-structure constant $\alpha$ in the string-inspired runaway dilaton class of models of Damour, Piazza and Veneziano. We provide constraints on this scenario using the most recent $\alpha$…
We discuss the cosmic history of supernovae on the basis of various assumptions and recent data on the star formation history. We show that supernova rates as a function of redshift can be used to place significant constraints on progenitor…
In this paper we provide both a diagnosis and resolution of the cosmological constant problem, one in which a large (as opposed to a small) cosmological constant $\Lambda$ can be made compatible with observation. We trace the origin of the…
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…
New precision in measuring extragalactic distances using supernovae has confirmed with high probability an accelerating increase in redshift with distance. This has been interpreted as implying the existence of dark energy in an expanding…
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…
Based on superfluid behavior of a (boson) dark matter as the light itself, a unified model for dark matter and quintessence is proposed. Inspired by (O'Dell et al. 2000) which in an exciting study showed that particular configurations of…
Changes in the values of the fundamental constants mu, the proton to electron mass ratio, and alpha, the fine structure constant due to rolling scalar fields have been discussed both in the context of cosmology and in new physics such as…
The principles of General Relativity allow for a non-vanishing cosmological constant, which can possibly be interpreted at least partially in terms of quantum-fluctuations of matter fields. Depending on sign and magnitude it can cause…
We re-analyze the observed magnitude-redshift relation of type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) and examine the possibility that the apparent acceleration of the cosmic expansion is not caused by dark energy but is instead a consequence of the…
I will review some results of observational cosmology which critically cast doubt upon the foundations of the standard cosmology: 1) The redshifts of the galaxies are due to the expansion of the Universe; 2) The cosmic microwave background…
In this paper, new bounds on possible variations of the fine structure constant, $\alpha$, for a class of runaway dilaton models are performed. By considering a possible evolution with redshift, $z$, such as…
In a class of models designed to solve the cosmological constant problem by coupling scalar or tensor classical fields to the space-time curvature, the universal scale factor grows as a power law in the age, $a \propto t^\alpha$, regardless…