Phys.org April 27, 2020
An international team of researchers (Australia, UK, Poland, USA – Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Harvard University, Portugal, Germany, Italy) reported that four new measurements of light emitted from a quasar 13 billion light years away reaffirm past studies that found tiny variations in the fine structure constant which is used as a measure of the strength of the electromagnetic force. They made four measurements of the fine constant along the one line of sight to this quasar. Individual measurements did not provide any conclusive answer as to whether there were perceptible changes in the electromagnetic force. However, when combined with lots of other measurements between us and distant quasars made by other scientists and unrelated to this study, the differences in the fine structure constant became evident. The standard model is built upon Einstein’s theory of gravity, which itself explicitly assumes constancy of the laws of Nature. If such fundamental principles turn out to be only good approximations, the doors are open to some exciting, new ideas in physics…read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLEÂ 1Â , 2
Scientists examining the light from one of the furthermost quasars in the universe were astonished to find fluctuations in the electromagnetic force. Credit: Shutterstock