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Register a new userObservables in theories with a varying fine structure constant
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We show how two seemingly different theories with a scalar multiplicative coupling to electrodynamics are actually two equivalent parametrisations of the same theory: despite some differences in the interpretation of some phenemenological aspects of the parametrisations, they lead to the same physical observables. This is illustrated on the interpretation of observations of the Cosmic Microwave Background.
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In this paper we consider a specific type of the bimetric theory of gravitation with the two different metrics introduced in the cosmological frame. Both metrics respect all the symmetries of the standard FLRW solution and contain conformally related spatial parts. One of the metric is assumed to describe the causal structure for the matter. Another metric defines the causal structure for the gravitational interactions. A crucial point is that the spatial part of the metric describing gravity is given by the spatial part of the matter metric confromally rescaled by a time-dependent factor $alpha$ which, as it turns out, can be linked to the effective gravitational constant and the effective speed of light. In the context of such a bimetric framework we examine the strength of some singular cosmological scenarios in the sense of the criteria introduced by Tipler and Krolak. In particular, we show that for the nonsingular scale factor associated with the matter metric, both the vanishing or blowing up of the factor $alpha$ for some particular moment of the cosmic expansion may lead to a strong singularity with infinite value of the energy density and infinite value of the pressure.
Webb et al. presented preliminary evidence for a time-varying fine-structure constant. We show Tellers formula for this variation to be ruled out within the Einstein-de Sitter universe, however, it is compatible with cosmologies which require a large cosmological constant.
It has been suggested that the cosmological constant is a variable dynamical quantity. A class of solution has been presented for the spherically symmetric space time describing wormholes by assuming the erstwhile cosmological constant $Lambda$ to be a space variable scalar, viz., $Lambda$ = $Lambda (r) $ . It is shown that the Averaged Null Energy Condition (ANEC) violating exotic matter can be made arbitrarily small.
The Keck telescopes HIRES spectrograph has previously provided evidence for a smaller fine-structure constant, alpha, compared to the current laboratory value, in a sample of 143 quasar absorption systems: da/a=(-0.57+/-0.11)x10^{-5}. This was based on a variety of metal-ion transitions which, if alpha varies, experience different relative velocity shifts. This result is yet to be robustly contradicted, or confirmed, by measurements on other telescopes and spectrographs; it remains crucial to do so. It is also important to consider new possible instrumental systematic effects which may explain the Keck/HIRES results. Griest et al. (2009, arXiv:0904.4725v1) recently identified distortions in the echelle order wavelength scales of HIRES with typical amplitudes +/-250m/s. Here we investigate the effect such distortions may have had on the Keck/HIRES varying alpha results. We demonstrate that they cause a random effect on da/a from absorber to absorber because the systems are at different redshifts, placing the relevant absorption lines at different positions in different echelle orders. The typical magnitude of the effect on da/a is ~0.4x10^{-5} per absorber which, compared to the median error on da/a in the sample, ~1.9x10^{-5}, is relatively small. Consequently, the weighted mean value changes by less than 0.05x10^{-5} if the corrections we calculate are applied. Nevertheless, we urge caution, particularly for analyses aiming to achieve high precision da/a measurements on individual systems or small samples, that a much more detailed understanding of such intra-order distortions and their dependence on observational parameters is important if they are to be avoided or modelled reliably. [Abridged]
We show that gravitational theories with a nonminimal coupling (NMC) to the matter fields lead to a violation of Etheringtons distance-duality relation, which relates the luminosity and angular diameter distances. We derive constraints on power-law and exponential NMC models using existing measurements of type Ia supernovae and baryon acoustic oscillations throughout the redshift range $0<z<1.5$. These complement previous constrains derived from cosmic-microwave background radiation and big-bang nucleosynthesis data.
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