Black holes constrain varying constants

P. C.W. Davies; Tamara M. Davis; Charles H. Lineweaver

doi:10.1038/418602a

Black holes constrain varying constants

P. C.W. Davies, Tamara M. Davis, Charles H. Lineweaver

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

63 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

There is evidence to suggest that the finestructure constant, a - a measure of the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between photons and electrons, is slowly increasing over cosmological timescales. As a=e2 /hc (where e is the electronic charge, h is Plancks constant and c is the speed of light), this would call into question which of these fundamental quantities are truly constant. Here we consider black-hole thermodynamics as a test of which constants might actually be variable, discounting those that could lead to a violation of the generalized second law of thermodynamics.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	602-603
Number of pages	2
Journal	Nature
Volume	418
Issue number	6898
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1038/418602a
Publication status	Published - 8 Aug 2002
Externally published	Yes

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abstract = "There is evidence to suggest that the finestructure constant, a - a measure of the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between photons and electrons, is slowly increasing over cosmological timescales. As a=e2 /hc (where e is the electronic charge, h is Plancks constant and c is the speed of light), this would call into question which of these fundamental quantities are truly constant. Here we consider black-hole thermodynamics as a test of which constants might actually be variable, discounting those that could lead to a violation of the generalized second law of thermodynamics.",

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AB - There is evidence to suggest that the finestructure constant, a - a measure of the strength of the electromagnetic interaction between photons and electrons, is slowly increasing over cosmological timescales. As a=e2 /hc (where e is the electronic charge, h is Plancks constant and c is the speed of light), this would call into question which of these fundamental quantities are truly constant. Here we consider black-hole thermodynamics as a test of which constants might actually be variable, discounting those that could lead to a violation of the generalized second law of thermodynamics.

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Black holes constrain varying constants

Abstract

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