A stellar test of the physics of unification

Abstract

We discuss the feasibility of using solar-type main-sequence stars as probes of fundamental physics and unification. We use a simple polytropic stellar structure model and study its sensitivity to variations of the gravitational, strong and electroweak coupling constants in the context of unification scenarios. We quantify the sensitivity of the Sun's interior temperature to these variations, finding $|\Delta \alpha /\alpha |\lesssim 1.3\times 10^{-4}$ for a 'canonical' choice of unification scenario, and discuss prospects for future improvements.

6 pages, 2 figures; submitted to Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (4)

• Coupled Variations of Fundamental Couplings and Primordial Nucleosynthesis
• Testing alternative theories of gravity using the Sun
• Stars In Other Universes: Stellar structure with different fundamental constants
• Reconstructing the dark energy equation of state with varying couplings

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• Consistency tests of the stability of fundamental couplings and unification scenarios
• Probing unification scenarios with atomic clocks
• Current and Future White Dwarf Mass-radius Constraints on Varying Fundamental Couplings and Unification Scenarios
• Constraints of the variation of fundamental couplings and sensitivity of the equation of state of dense matter
• The Sun and stars: Giving light to dark matter
• Effect of temperature on measurement of fundamental constants using white dwarfs in Gaia-EDR3 survey