2000/04/26 by D. A. Varshalovich, A. Y. Potekhin, A. V. Ivanchik
Physics and Astronomy · #physics.atom-ph #astro-ph #physics.gen-ph
published as Comments on Modern Physics 2 (2001) D223-D232 · 6 pages, plain LaTeX. Accepted for publication in Comments on Atomic and Molecular Physics
arxiv created 2000/04/26 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01
We discuss experiments and observations aimed at testing the possible space-time variability of fundamental physical constants, predicted by the modern theory. Specifically, we consider two of the dimensionless physical parameters which are important for atomic and molecular physics: the fine-structure constant and the electron-to-proton mass ratio. We review the current status of such experiments and critically analyze recent claims of a detection of the variability of the fine-structure constant on the cosmological time scale. We stress that such a detection remains to be checked by future experiments and observations. The tightest of the firmly established upper limits read that the considered constants could not vary by more than 0.015% on the scale of 10 Gigayears.