Fundamental constants and tests of general relativity - Theoretical and cosmological considerations

Abstract

The tests of the constancy of the fundamental constants are tests of the local position invariance and thus of the equivalence principle. We summarize the various constraints that have been obtained and then describe the connection between varying constants and extensions of general relativity. To finish, we discuss the link with cosmology, and more particularly with the acceleration of the Universe. We take the opportunity to summarize various possibilities to test general relativity (but also the Copernican principle) on cosmological scales.

Proceedings of the workshop ``The nature of gravity, confronting theory and experiment in space'', ISSI, Bern, october 2008

References in corpus (12)

• Measuring the dark side (with weak lensing)
• A discriminating probe of gravity at cosmological scales
• A general test of the Copernican Principle
• Coupled Variations of Fundamental Couplings and Primordial Nucleosynthesis
• Time drift of cosmological redshifts as a test of the Copernican principle
• The acceleration of the universe and the physics behind it
• A Test of the Copernican Principle
• Is Modified Gravity Required by Observations? An Empirical Consistency Test of Dark Energy Models
• Primordial nucleosynthesis as a probe of fundamental physics parameters
• Time drift of cosmological redshifts and its variance
• Unifying cosmological and recent time variations of fundamental couplings
• A Null Test of the Cosmological Constant

Cited by in corpus (10)

• Varying constants, Gravitation and Cosmology
• Cosmological Tests of Gravity
• Estimations of changes of the Sun's mass and the gravitation constant from the modern observations of planets and spacecraft
• The variation of fundamental constants and the role of A=5 and A=8 nuclei on primordial nucleosynthesis
• Clusters of galaxies and variation of the fine structure constant
• Weak-lensing by the large scale structure in a spatially anisotropic universe: theory and predictions
• Gyromagnetic Factors and Atomic Clock Constraints on the Variation of Fundamental Constants
• Not a Copernican observer: biased peculiar velocity statistics in the local Universe
• Does the Newton's gravitational constant vary sinusoidally with time? Orbital motions say no
• Observational constraints on spatial anisotropy of G from orbital motions