Varying Fine-Structure Constant and the Cosmological Constant Problem

Abstract

We start with a brief account of the latest analysis of the Oklo phenomenon providing the still most stringent constraint on time-variability of the fine- structure constant $\alpha$. Comparing this with the recent result from the measurement of distant QSO's appears to indicate a non-uniform time-dependence, which we argue to be related to another recent finding of the accelerating universe. This view is implemented in terms of the scalar-tensor theory, applied specifically to the small but nonzero cosmological constant. Our detailed calculation shows that these two phenomena can be understood in terms of a common origin, a particular behavior of the scalar field, dilaton. We also sketch how this theoretical approach makes it appropriate to revisit non- Newtonian gravity featuring small violation of Weak Equivalence Principle at medium distances.

Delivered at JENAM 2002, Porto, Portugal, 2-7 September, 2002; 5 pages LaTex, 3 figures; typographical errors corrected

References in corpus (3)

• Further Evidence for Cosmological Evolution of the Fine Structure Constant
• The Oklo bound on the time variation of the fine-structure constant revisited
• The nuclear interaction at Oklo 2 billion years ago

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Measuring $\alpha$ in the Early Universe: CMB Polarization, Reionization and the Fisher Matrix Analysis
• Linearized Bekenstein Varying Alpha Models
• Time-variability of the fine-structure constant expected from the Oklo constraint and the QSO absorption lines
• Evolution of the fine-structure constant in the non-linear regime
• Varying Alpha Monopoles
• Cosmic strings in Bekenstein-type models
• Time varying $\alpha$ in N=8 extended Supergravity
• Gravitational Effects of Varying Alpha Strings
• Cosmological Consequences of Topological Defects: Dark Energy and Varying Fundamental Constants