Some controversial measurements suggest, however, that the
fine-structure constant may be different in different parts of the universe.
Magic number: A partial history of the
fine-structure constant. Arch.
Recent observations of light from distant quasars (luminous sources thought to be caused by material heating up as it swirls around a black hole) hint that the
fine-structure constant varies over the sky at large distances.
Dziuba, Determination of the von Klitzing Constant and the
Fine-Structure Constant Through a Comparison of the Quantized Hall Resistance and the Ohm Derived from the NIST Calculable Capacitor, Metrologia 35, 83-96 (1998).
Kilmister's masterly reconstruction of Eddington's attempts to determine the
fine-structure constant shows how and why Eddington's programme, like Kepler's, finally degenerated.
[5.]
Fine-structure constant. Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finestructure.constant
Dr Berengut, of the University of New South Wales School of Physics, said the team's previous research on light from distant quasars suggests that alpha - known as the
fine-structure constant - may vary across the universe.
In recent years, astrophysical data have indicated that the
fine-structure constant called alpha has increased since the early universe.
The lead article in the annual Buyer's Guide of the American Institute of Physics features five pages of values of the fundamental physical constants, such as the speed of light, the Newtonian constant of gravitation, the Planck constant, the
fine-structure constant, and energy-unit conversion factors.
Webb (University of New South Wales, Australia) and his colleagues tracked the
fine-structure constant, denoted by the lowercase Greek letter alpha ([alpha]).
The numerical value of the
fine-structure constant a was often denoted to be a mystery, a magic number and an enigma.
Since 2001, Flambaum and his colleagues have presented growing evidence that another constant, known as alpha or the
fine-structure constant, has also varied (SN: 10/6/01, p.