Good article from The Economist on this as well: http://www.the-economist.com/node/16930866
On Mon, Sep 6, 2010 at 9:31 AM, Douglas Roberts <d...@parrot-farm.net>wrote: > And now for something completely different: > > > http://science.slashdot.org/story/10/09/05/212252/Fine-Structure-Constant-Maybe-Not-So-Constant > > > *"**The fine-structure > constant*<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fine-structure_constant> > *, a coupling constant characterizing the strength of the electromagnetic > interaction, has been measured lately by scientists from the University of > New South Wales in Sydney, Australia and **has been found to change > slightly*<http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/62985/title/Changing_one_of_natures_constants> > * in light sent from quasars in galaxies as far back as 12 billion years > ago. Although the results look promising, caution is advised: 'This would be > sensational if it were real, but I'm still not completely convinced that > it's not simply systematic errors' in the data, comments cosmologist Max > Tegmark of MIT. Craig Hogan of the University of Chicago and the Fermi > National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, Ill., acknowledges that 'it's a > competent team and a thorough analysis.' But because the work has such > profound implications for physics and requires such a high level of > precision measurements, 'it needs more proof before we'll believe it.'"* > * > * > > *The implications, as one Slashdotter points out:* > * > * > > *The fine structure constant is given as being equal to "e^2/hc", so if > the FSC is not a constant then one (or more) of the other values must also > be a variable. Take your pick between:* > > * > > - e, The elementary charge<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_charge> > [wikipedia.org] > - h, The reduced Planck > constant<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_constant> > [wikipedia.org] > - c, The speed of light in a > vacuum<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_of_light_in_vacuum> > [wikipedia.org] > > * > > * > > If any of those constants turned out to in fact be variable, or even a > "constant" which has varied over the lifetime of the universe, then the > implications would be profound to say the least. > * > > > --Doug > > >
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