Abstract
This report offers one experimentalist’s outlook on the constants area especially from the perspective of atomic physics. There are many recent reviews of selected areas of such work in addition to the well-known periodic overall studies including least squares adjustments. My intent is neither to offer the scientific depth of the specialized reviews nor to even approach the technical scope of an overall adjustment.
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References
The next major iteration of the continuing process is due to appear in the near future through the efforts of B.N. Taylor and E.R. Cohen under the aegis of the CODATA Task Group on Fundamental Constants. Its predecessor is to be found in E.R. Cohen and B.N. Taylor, Jour. Phys. Chem. Ref. Data 2, 663 (1973).
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There are many alternative perspectives on this area among which the reader may wish to examine (titles are indicated for guidance): J.-M. Levy-Leblond, “On the Conceptual Nature of the Physical Constants”, Revista del Nuovo Cimento 7 Nr. 2, pp. 187–214 (1977). Kastler and P. Grivet, “The Measurement of Fundamental Constants (Metrology) and its Effect on Scientific and Technical Progress”, in Atomic Masses and Fundamental Constants 5, J.H. Sanders and A.H. Wapstra, Eds., Plenum Press, N.Y. (1976), pp. 1–23. A.H. Cook, “Standards of Measurement and the Structure of Physical Knowledge”, Contemporary Physics 18, No. 4, pp. 393–409 ( 1977 ). General guides to the field have been rare. The most recent is that due to B. Petley, “The Fundamental Physical Constants and the Frontier of Measurement,” Adam Hilger (London), (1983).
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Deslattes, R.D. (1983). Impact of Atomic Physics on Fundamental Constants. In: Lindgren, I., Rosén, A., Svanberg, S. (eds) Atomic Physics 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4684-4550-3_3
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