Lectures on the Varying fine structure constant

[Conn_coord]

A University of Oxford and Cambridge Collaboration in 2014 produced a series of lectures "Cosmology and the constants of nature". John K Webb spoke on the topic of variations in the values of fundamental constants.
Latest developments here.


Who else is doing similar research?

 

[malawi_glenn]

Have you read e.g. the wikipedia article?
There are some references therein you should check out.

My former collegues wrote this paper which might be of some interest to you. It has only been cited by two other papers, so not that popular/impactful study. But there should be plenty of references therein for you to read.

 

[Conn_coord]

Thanks for the link to article.
Information on Wiki is not up to date.
But it can be true:
The time-variation of fine-structure constant is equivalent to the time-variation of one or more of: speed of light, Planck constant, vacuum permittivity, and elementary charge,
since $$\alpha = \frac {e^2} {2\epsilon_0 \cdot c \cdot h} $$

 

[malawi_glenn]

Information on Wiki is not up to date

Probably not but you have references to seminal papers from which you can find other papers and so on.

 

[Conn_coord]

Of course, you are right, the amount of material will increase. But this is how I go back in time :) . And I need something that is not yet in Wiki

 

[malawi_glenn]

Of course, you are right, the amount of material will increase. But this is how I go back in time :) . And I need something that is not yet in Wiki

I think you do not understand what I meant.
Go to the papers listed on wiki, then look what articles are referring to those articles.
For instance this one: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340921928_Four_direct_measurements_of_the_fine-structure_constant_13_billion_years_ago
click on "citations"
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/340921928_Four_direct_measurements_of_the_fine-structure_constant_13_billion_years_ago
BAM tons of papers to read. Then if you find an interesting paper among those, play the same game and find what papers are using that paper as a reference. And so on.

 

[Conn_coord]

OK, thanks.
That's how it works. I'll try to find what I need.

 

[Conn_coord]

John K Webb is talking about the time variation of a fine structure constant.
At the same time, it does not suggest patterns of its change.
The simplest form is $$\alpha = f(T)$$, where T - age of the Universe.
In turn, we can represent T as $$ T = N \cdot t_0$$, where t₀ - some kind of time standard chosen by a person.
As a reference, you can choose the Planck`s time:
$$ T = N\cdot t_0 = N \cdot \sqrt{\frac{Gh}{c^5}} $$

Then, using the work of E. Teller, Phys. Rev. 73, 801 (1948), On the Change of Physical Constants one can arrive at the expression:
$$ N= const \cdot \frac {1}{\alpha} \cdot e^{\frac{1}{\alpha}} $$
whose solution is the Lambert function.