A Variable Model of the Fine-Structure Constant
Ioannis Iraklis Haranas
Keywords: Cosmology, fundamental constants, quantum-electrodynamics
Recent evidence suggests that the fine-structure constant α = ke2/hc, a measure of the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between photons and electrons, is slowly increasing over cosmological timescales. High-resolution measurements of quasar spectra suggest that there has been a variation Δα/α = -0.72 ? 0.18?10-5 over the past 6-10 Gyr. To model this, we propose variability in the speed of light that produces a cosmological time variation α& /α = 10-15 and 10-16 yr-1 at z = 3 which also agrees with the observational spectral data.
