https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=YJzoelANL_Y
Are the Fundamental Constants Changing? - Spacetime

the laws of physics are the

same everywhere in the universe at least

we astrophysicists hope so after all

it's hard to unravel the complexities of

different parts of the universe if we

don't know the basic rules but what if

this is wrong there is a hint of

evidence that the fundamental constants

that govern our universe may evolve over

time and even from one location to

another the laws of physics other

relationships we observe between space

and time and the fields and particles

that occupy it those relationships are

often expressed as equations but they're

also governed by the constants within

those equations for example the standard

model of particle physics is comprised

of equations that predict the existence

and behavior of the particle building

blocks of our universe but the standard

model also depends on a set of constants

that cannot be predicted by that model

only measured things like the mass of

the electron and the relative strengths

of the forces of nature why the

fundamental constants take the values

they do is a very deep and unanswered

question the answer lies in a deeper

underlying theory a so-called grand

unified theory but some proposed grand

unified theories predicts something

unsettling they predict that the

fundamental constants may not be

constant at all and instead may vary

over time and space now we're not going

to get into the nitty-gritty of the

theory today we'll come back to it

another time instead we're going to look

at the experiments and the evidence

because there's a hint of evidence that

at least one fundamental constant is in

fact varying to measure change is in a

fundamental constant we first need to

choose the right constant let's try the

speed of light it's value stay is

299,792,458 meters per second in a

vacuum

but was it always this value it's been

suggested that a changing speed of light

might be an alternative to inflation

theory or even to the apparent expansion

of the universe but this may be

untestable for one thing our definitions

of the unit's used to define the speed

of light our arbitrary and themselves

depend on that speed the meter is

officially defined as the distance light

travels in one 299,792,458 of a second

and the second is defined in terms of a

particular frequency of light emitted by

the cesium 133 atom if the speed of

light changes the rulers we use to

measure that speed change also the speed

of light defines the relationship

between space and time so is it even

meaningful to talk about it changing

independently to its underlying

dimensions in fact it may be impossible

to interpret changes in any physical

constant that has units the dimensions

behind say Newton's gravitational

constant or the mass of the electron all

have arbitrary human definitions to be

confident that we've seen a change in a

fundamental constant we need to study a

dimensionless constant one that has no

units and therefore isn't dependent on

our definitions of those units perhaps

the most promising example is the

fine-structure constant it's a

dimensionless description of the

strength of the electromagnetic force in

the language of quantum field theory

it's the coupling strength between the

electromagnetic field and a charged

field like the electron field we use the

Greek letter alpha to represent the

fine-structure constant and its

numerical value is one of the most

precisely measured quantities in physics

precise to one part in four billion it's

approximate value is around 1 over 137

with no units it's a dimensionless

number no one knows how alpha ended up

with this value but if you change it by

much our universe will look very

different the first measurement of this

fundamental parameter was through its

effect on

the fine grained structure of atomic

energy levels which is where the

constant gets its name this effect is

also how we'll test whether alpha is

changing so let's look into it electron

energy levels or orbitals in atoms are

quantized meaning only certain levels

are allowed when electrons move between

levels they emit or absorb photons with

energies equal to that lost or gained by

the electron we see this effect in the

sharp spikes or dips in light at

specific wavelengths when we observe the

spectrum of a gas we call these features

spectral lines and if you look at their

fine grained structure you'll see that

some lines are split into corresponding

two very slightly different energies

this splitting is due to the fact that

each atomic energy level can host two

electrons and these electrons have spins

pointing in opposite directions now

quantum spin gives electrons what we

call a magnetic moment they have

magnetic field it's just like a little

bar magnet or electric currents rotating

in a ring even though there's no actual

rotation these same electrons are also

orbiting the atomic nucleus and that

motion generates its own magnetic field

the magnetic fields produced by an

electron spin and by its orbital motion

actually interact with each other in an

effect called spin orbit coupling there

are two stable configurations for this

interaction the little bar magnet may be

aligned with the orbital field or

opposite to it alignment with the field

is the more stable state it has a

slightly lower energy than the opposite

alignment so in electrons jump between

orbitals the energy they absorb or emit

depends on their spin alignment the

result is a very small difference in the

wavelengths of the spectral lines

produced by those transitions okay but

what's all this got to do with the laws

of physics changing well the magnitude

of this wavelength split depends very

strongly on the fine-structure constant

to measure changes in alpha

we just need to look for changes in the

magnitude of line splitting the key to

this measurement is a quasars remember

quasars insanely luminous maelstroms of

superheated matter surrounding the most

massive black holes in the universe

these things can be seen out to billions

of light-years when a quasars light

passes through giant clouds of gas on

its way to us elements in those clouds

absorb photons to produce spectral lines

by looking at many quasars we can find

absorbing clouds that existed in

different past epochs of the universe

fine structure splitting in those

absorption lines can then be used to

track changes in alpha through cosmic

time as it happens a group of

researchers in Australia did exactly

this they used the Keck telescope in

Hawaii to study iron and magnesium

absorption lines from clouds along the

lines of sight of a hundred and

forty-three quasars their results

suggest that alpha was slightly smaller

in the past by around one part in a

hundred thousand in their 2004 paper

they claimed five Sigma significance

indicating a confident detection of a

change in alpha this is intriguing but

get this the researchers then pointed

the very large telescope in Chile at a

different part of the sky and they found

that alpha varied in the opposite

direction

looking in the new direction they found

that alpha was larger in the past

suggesting both a temporal and a spatial

variation the significance of the

spatial variation was claimed to be four

Sigma so it's still tentative now this

is all highly suggestive but these

results are by no means widely accepted

some recent attempts to reanalyze the

data indicate only a two to three sigma

significance which is consistent with no

change in alpha the challenge here is

that the measurement is really really

difficult

photons from these extremely distant

quasars and gas clouds are massively

redshifted their wavelengths stretched

out due to the expansion of the universe

that redshift needs to be carefully

accounted for and there are many other

potential systemic errors that could

masquerade as a change in the

fine-structure constant these potential

pitfalls are why it's so important for

scientific experiments to be reproduced

by multiple teams before results can be

accepted for now all of this remains a

tantalising possibility until more and

better experiments are performed other

efforts are underway for example there's

the ah clone natural nuclear reactor in

Gabon in central Africa this uranium

deposit underwent a natural fission

event 2 billion years ago scientists are

analyzing the remaining decay products

to see if alpha was smaller when the

event took place we're also trying to

develop atomic clocks accurate enough to

track changes in alpha in real time if

the fine-structure constant is changing

then it's not changing by very much so

why do we care well any measurement of a

change in alpha may provide evidence to

constrain the grand unified theories

that predict such changes we are

currently in dire need of any such

evidence and verification of a change

may be a way to solve the fine-tuning

problem certain Astrophysical processes

that seem to be necessary for the

appearance of life are quite sensitive

to some fundamental constants alpha

especially in fact if alpha was much

different than chemistry would work

differently or not at all the stars

themselves were never formed it might

seem lucky that alpha is fine-tuned for

a universe with the warmth of stars and

a rich and complex chemistry both the

central for life but if the fundamental

constants vary from place to place then

it's not surprising that we find

ourselves in a part of the universe

conducive to stars and to planets and to

life scientists are also looking into

the variation of other dimensionless

constants such as the proton electron

mass ratio and the more obscure proton

gyromagnetic ratio

the search continues larger surveys with

future generations of telescopes more

refined cosmological models and better

atomic clocks will all help scientists

shave down those experimental error bars

little by little we may one day find

that our sacred laws of physics and

their underlying constants aren't so

constant after all beyond our little

patch of space-time
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last week we

talked about some possibilities for

future advanced Space Telescope's

you guys had some pretty cool insights

Michael Williams asks about the

possibility of using our Sun as a

gravitational lensing telescope well

it's funny you should mention that

because

the future Space Telescope that got cut

from the last script due to length but

there is a proposal the fast outgoing

cyclopean astronomical lens or focal it

would send a spacecraft to at least 550

times the Earth's orbital radius out

beyond the edge of the solar system they

would then look back at light lens din

the Sun's gravitational field that life

could be magnified up to a hundred

million times and it may be possible to

see structure on the surface of

exoplanets

among the many challenges presented by

this idea is that you could really only

have a look in one direction back

towards the Sun so you better hope you

chose a good direction o X F F F 1 asks

whether it'll be feasible to build

something like an array go scope with

infinitely many concentric rings by

using some sort of advanced diffracting

material well I'm not sure it's possible

with a material I mean crystal

structures diffract x-rays but that's

because the distance between atoms is

similar to x-ray wavelengths to do

something similar with visible light

you'd need a nano fabricated structure

with actual concentric rings the problem

then is that the focal length of the

Rings depends on their size with smaller

rings creating a focus closer to the

arrived escape than larger rings so this

material would have to be cone-shaped so

the smaller rings are closer to the

detector or you need some sort of

compensating optics all this is possible

with some amazing engineering but we're

no longer talking about a cheap project

a few of you noticed that star shades

look a lot like far going from le

dangerous yeah nice next time I anaconda

gets dragged out of warp by a thyroid

Bob try to snap some nice pics of

exoplanets over its shoulder before I'm vaporized