Related papers: Fundamental Physical Constants: Looking from Diffe…
Defined by Lord Kelvin as the science of measurement it is described a fundamental fact of physics. The so called `natural' units represent the unique system of units conveniently used in the realm of High Energy Physics. The system of…
The concept of the physical state of a system is ubiquitous in physics but is usually presented in terms of specific cases. For example, the state of a point particle of mass m is completely characterized by its position and momentum. There…
Glasses constitute a widespread form of solid matter, and glass production has been an important human technology for more than 3000 years. Despite that long history, new ways to understand the fundamental physics of glasses continue to…
Taking into account four universal constants, namely the Planck's constant $h$, the velocity of light $c$, the constant of gravitation $G$ and the Boltzmann's constant $k$ leads to structuring theoretical physics in terms of three theories…
Fundamental spin physics has made striking progresses in the last years; new ideas, experiments and data interpretations have been proposed and keep emerging. A review of some of the most important issues in the spin structure of nucleons…
Recent developments in the mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics have brought the theory closer to that of classical probability and statistics. On the other hand, the unique character of quantum physics sets many of the questions…
Planck units are natural physical scales of mass, length and time, built with the help of the fundamental constants $\hbar, c, G$. The functional role of the constants used for the construction of Planck units is different. If the first two…
Since its inception at the beginning of the twentieth century, quantum mechanics has challenged our conceptions of how the universe ought to work; however, the equations of quantum mechanics can be too computationally difficult to solve…
Time variation of fundamental constants, a strong signal of new physics, is analyzed comparing extant data with two phenomenological models. Results are discussed.
The observational evidence for the recent acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete---if not incorrect---and that new physics is out there, waiting to be discovered. A…
This is a review of the physics and cosmology of the cosmological constant. Focusing on recent developments, I present a pedagogical overview of cosmology in the presence of a cosmological constant, observational constraints on its…
Discussion of the constancy, or otherwise, of the various so-called universal constants which abound in physics has continued for many years. However, relatively recent observations, which appear to indicate a variation in the value of the…
Lecture script of a one-semester course that aims to develop an understanding and appreciation of fundemental concepts in modern physics for students who are comfortable with calculus. This document contains the last part of the course…
Cosmology contributes a good deal to the investigation of variation of fundamental physical constants. High resolution data is available and allows for detailed analysis over cosmological distances and a multitude of methods were developed.…
We review astrophysical, cosmological and terrestrial evidence for and against the constancy of fundamental parameters of particle physics, and discuss theoretical issues of unification and scalar-mediated forces, finding that the current…
We review recent activity searching for variations in the fundamental constants of nature in quasar absorption spectra and in the laboratory. While research in this direction has been ongoing for many decades, the topic has recently been…
Various contributions to the cosmological constant are discussed and confronted with its recent measurement. We briefly review different scenarious -- and their difficulties -- for a solution of the cosmological constant problem.
In physics, there is the prevailing intuition that we are part of a unique external world, and that the goal of physics is to understand and describe this world. This assumption of the fundamentality of objective reality is often seen as a…
The principle which allows to construct new physical theories on the basis of classical mechanics by reduction of the number of its axiom without engaging new postulates is formulated. The arising incompleteness of theory manifests itself…
I briefly present some current theoretical motivations for time or space variations of the fundamental constants of nature and review current key observational results. I focus on the fine-structure constant, and particularly on…