Early Universe Constraints on Time Variation of Fundamental Constants

Abstract

We study the time variation of fundamental constants in the early Universe. Using data from primordial light nuclei abundances, CMB and the 2dFGRS power spectrum, we put constraints on the time variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$, and the Higgs vacuum expectation value $<v>$ without assuming any theoretical framework. A variation in $<v>$ leads to a variation in the electron mass, among other effects. Along the same line, we study the variation of $\alpha$ and the electron mass $m_e$. In a purely phenomenological fashion, we derive a relationship between both variations.

18 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in Physical Review D

References in corpus (10)

• Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Three Year Results: Implications for Cosmology
• First stars VII. Lithium in extremely metal poor dwarfs
• The primordial abundance of 4He: a self-consistent empirical analysis of systematic effects in a large sample of low-metallicity HII regions
• Coupled Variations of Fundamental Couplings and Primordial Nucleosynthesis
• Primordial nucleosynthesis as a probe of fundamental physics parameters
• Probing variations in fundamental constants with radio and optical quasar absorption-line observations
• CMB constraints on the fine structure constant
• Time variation of the fine structure constant in the early universe and the Bekenstein model
• Time variation of the electron mass in the early universe and the Barrow-Magueijo model
• Cosmological Cosmic Rays: Sharpening the Primordial Lithium Problem

Cited by in corpus (7)

• Cosmology with varying fundamental constants from hyperlight, coupled scalars
• Big Bang Nucleosynthesis constraints on varying electron mass solution to the Hubble tension
• Mirror Dark Sector Solution of the Hubble Tension with Time-varying Fine-structure Constant
• Impact of the matter density uncertainty on the dark energy reconstruction
• Self-tuning inflation
• Constraining spacetime variations of nuclear decay rates from light curves of type Ia supernovae
• Baryon-baryon, meson-meson, and meson-baryon interactions in nonrelativistic QCD