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I was thinking about units and started wondering about coupling constants. In unit-independent form, the fine-structure constant is defined as [tex]\alpha = \frac{k_e e^2}{\hbar c}[/tex]
I don't have a deep knowledge of particle physics but I know that there are weak and strong charges which enter the Lagrangian. Also the corresponding alphas can be measured. But are there quantities analogous to Coulomb's constant [itex]k_e[/itex] for the weak and strong interaction which can be measured? Or do our experiments somehow force us to set them equal to one?
I don't have a deep knowledge of particle physics but I know that there are weak and strong charges which enter the Lagrangian. Also the corresponding alphas can be measured. But are there quantities analogous to Coulomb's constant [itex]k_e[/itex] for the weak and strong interaction which can be measured? Or do our experiments somehow force us to set them equal to one?