Could a Particle Accelerator in Space Reveal Different Physical Laws?

[Tayler]

TL;DR

If experiments were conducted with a particle accelerator in a distant space from earth or even our galaxy somewhere in the universe would the results change? I.e finding different elements ect..

If experiments were conducted with a particle accelerator in a distant space from Earth or even our galaxy somewhere in the universe would the results change? I.e finding different elements ect..

 

[Halc]

It's kind of hard to find different elements when the elements are simply numbered from 1 on up.
I don't think you're asking that, but the principle of uniformity states that the laws of physics here are the same as laws elsewhere. This principle has not been proven, and I do see pop articles suggesting otherwise.

My top google result was from newscientist and stated

Laws of physics may change across the universe

The controversial finding comes from an observation that one of the constants of nature appears to be different in different parts of the cosmos. If correct, this result stands against Einstein's equivalence principle, which states that the laws of physics are the same everywhere.

Well the equivalence principle in fact says that the local physics under gravity (such as here on a planet surface) is the same as that in a properly accelerating box with no gravity. It says nothing about physics here being the same as elsewhere. So I don't put a lot of weight behind whatever claim they're making when they open with a summary as wrong as that.'

Still, I see articles suggesting that the fine structure constant might be different elsewhere, and that would indeed change the behavior of atoms and possibly influence the stability of the various isotopes of each of the elements.

 

[Tayler]

Yeah exactly, I've heard of that equivalence principle and I thought that if the universe were to be infinite then wouldn't that contradict said "equivalence principle"? How have you got a finite number of anything in an infinite universe? Probably a question for a different category.

 

[Halc]

if the universe were to be infinite then wouldn't that contradict said "equivalence principle"?

The EP has nothing to do with the universe being finite or not. It says (roughly) that locally, gravity is indistinguishable from acceleration. It's totally irrelevant to the size of things or the properties of physics elsewhere.

 

[mfb]

Within the accuracy of our measurements the laws of physics are the same everywhere. We can't build an accelerator on every planet, obviously, but we can get precise measurements from the light emitted from there. We know they have the same elements, the same chemistry, the same way gravity works, and more, in every place we can study.

 

[Vanadium 50]

Still, I see articles suggesting that the fine structure constant might be different elsewhere

Doubtful. What you are more likely reading is attempts to measure any possible variation. There is no motivation beyond "how do we know if we don't look". Furthermore, there's nothing magic about the fine structure constant other than it is easy to spot: it shows up in atomic spectra, and we get light from atomic transitions in distant sources.

Limits are on order of a few ppm deviation. This is driven by the thermal expansion of gratings and (when comparing to older measurements) the stretching of photographic film when it was being developed.

 

[ohwilleke]

There have been a number of studies attempting to determine if the fine structure constant (i.e. the electromagnetic coupling constant) was different many billions of years ago in distant galaxies, and so far, those results suggest that the Standard Model laws of physics have not changed in that time period.

There have also been efforts to evaluate changes in the proton-to-electron mass ratio in this time frame, again supporting the hypothesis that there has been no change.

The success of Big Bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) models also strongly imply that the strong force behaved the same way that it does today at a time about 10 seconds to 20 minutes after the Big Bang (according to the conventional cosmological time frame). New data is tending to confirm BBN more precisely than old data did, possibly even resolving the "Lithium Problem". Brian D. Fields, Keith A. Olive, "Implications of the Non-Observation of 6Li in Halo Stars for the Primordial 7Li Problem" arXiv:2204.03167 (April 7, 2022) (UMN--TH--4118/22, FTPI--MINN--22/09).

It is hardest to look for changes in the weak force that might be seen in a collider, since this would have the fewest implications that would be observable in astronomy observations.