Abstract
Time varying fundamental constants find a natural setting in the cosmology of extra space-time dimensions. Changes in the sizes of additional compact spatial dimensions manifest themselves as modifications of coupling strengths and masses in our effective low energy four-dimensional world. Those variations and their interconnection are best studied using the renormalization group equations of the Standard Model or its supersymmetric and grand unified extensions. A generic analysis predicts that time changes in the fine structure constant, α, are relatively suppressed by vacuum polarization effects while the QCD coupling variation is relatively enhanced due to asymptotic freedom. The latter effect suggests that time changes in the proton to electron mass ratio, mp/me may be a particularly sensitive probe of the physics of extra dimensions, with the sign (+/–) of the variation relative to other changing quantities differentiating possible cosmologies.
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Marciano, W.J. (2004). Time Varying Fundamental Constants,Extra Dimensionsand the Renormalization Group. In: Karshenboim, S.G., Peik, E. (eds) Astrophysics, Clocks and Fundamental Constants. Lecture Notes in Physics, vol 648. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-40991-5_6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-40991-5_6
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