Variation of fine structure constant and spacetime?

AI Thread Summary
Recent discussions highlight the controversial findings from Webb et al. suggesting that the fine structure constant may vary spatially, which could have significant implications for our understanding of spacetime. If proven correct, this variation could challenge the notion of a smooth 3+1 manifold and suggest that the geometry of spacetime itself might change with location. However, the results regarding the fine structure constant's variability have been inconsistent, raising doubts about their validity. Further detailed measurements would be necessary to explore any potential changes in the constant over distance or time. Overall, this topic remains a complex puzzle in theoretical physics.
asimov42
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Hi all,

I'm going to ask a naive question - hope that's ok. There's been a lot of recent discussion of the results from Webb et al. which indicate that the fine structure constant varies spatially. I realize the results are very controversial - I'm wondering, hypothetically, if these results were shown to be correct:

Would this have implications for our view of spacetime? I.e. would the 'structure' of spacetime vary with location? E.g., would we still work with a smooth 3+1 manifold? Would the geometry of the manifold change?

Sorry, I realize that the above is probably not very coherent - it's a question from a novice ;-)

Thanks.

J.
 
Space news on Phys.org
1. The fine structure constant is a constant which describes the strength of the electromagnetic interaction. Changing the fine structure constant changes things like the energy levels of atoms.
2. The results for the varying structure constant have been inconsistent and varied, which is a strong indication that the results are spurious and should be disregarded at this time.
 
asimov42 said:
Would this have implications for our view of spacetime? I.e. would the 'structure' of spacetime vary with location? E.g., would we still work with a smooth 3+1 manifold? Would the geometry of the manifold change?

Hard to say. It will just be one more piece of the puzzle that people will use to figure out what is going on. If we did find that the fine structure constant was changing either in distance or time, the next step would be to take detailed measurements on how it was changing.
 
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recombination_(cosmology) Was a matter density right after the decoupling low enough to consider the vacuum as the actual vacuum, and not the medium through which the light propagates with the speed lower than ##({\epsilon_0\mu_0})^{-1/2}##? I'm asking this in context of the calculation of the observable universe radius, where the time integral of the inverse of the scale factor is multiplied by the constant speed of light ##c##.
Why was the Hubble constant assumed to be decreasing and slowing down (decelerating) the expansion rate of the Universe, while at the same time Dark Energy is presumably accelerating the expansion? And to thicken the plot. recent news from NASA indicates that the Hubble constant is now increasing. Can you clarify this enigma? Also., if the Hubble constant eventually decreases, why is there a lower limit to its value?
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