The Behaviour of Varying-Alpha Cosmologies

Simple item page
dc.creatorBarrow, J. D.
dc.creatorSandvik, H. B.
dc.creatorMagueijo, J.
dc.date2001-09-24
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T10:51:20Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T10:51:20Z
dc.descriptionWe determine the behaviour of a time-varying fine structure 'constant' $α(t)$ during the early and late phases of universes dominated by the kinetic energy of changing $α(t)$, radiation, dust, curvature, and lambda, respectively. We show that after leaving an initial vacuum-dominated phase during which $α$ increases, $α$ remains constant in universes like our own during the radiation era, and then increases slowly, proportional to a logarithm of cosmic time, during the dust era. If the universe becomes dominated by negative curvature or a positive cosmological constant then $α$ tends rapidly to a constant value. The effect of an early period of de Sitter or power-law inflation is to drive $α$ to a constant value. Various cosmological consequences of these results are discussed with reference to recent observational studies of the value of $α$ from quasar absorption spectra and to the existence of life in expanding universes.
dc.description9 pages, 4 figures, Submitted to PRD
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0109414
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0109414
dc.identifierPhys.Rev.D65:063504,2002
dc.identifierdoi:10.1103/PhysRevD.65.063504
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/184784
dc.subjectAstrophysics
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.subjectHigh Energy Physics - Theory
dc.titleThe Behaviour of Varying-Alpha Cosmologies
dc.typetext

Files

Collections

arXiv