2002/03/31 by C. J. A. P. Martins, A. Melchiorri, R. Trotta +6 · 3 citations
Mathematics · Physics and Astronomy · #Algorithm #Anisotropy #Astrophysics #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Mathematics #Matrix (chemical analysis) #Physics #Planck #Quantum mechanics #Radio Astronomy Observations and Technology #Scale (ratio) #Universe #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.66.023505
published as Phys.Rev.D66:023505,2002 · 11 pages in RevTex4 format. Low-quality figures to comply with arXiv restrictions (better ones available from the authors). v2: Updated Oklo discussion, plus other cosmetic changes. Version to appear in Phys Rev D
arxiv created 2002/05/10 · openalex publication_date 2002/06/28 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We extend our recent work on the effects of a time-varying fine-structure constant \ensuremathα in the cosmic microwave background by providing a thorough analysis of the degeneracies between \ensuremathα and the other cosmological parameters, and discussing ways to break these with both existing and/or forthcoming data. In particular, we present the state-of-the-art cosmic microwave background constraints on \ensuremathα through a combined analysis of the BOOMERanG, MAXIMA and DASI data sets. We also present a novel discussion of the constraints on \ensuremathα coming from large-scale structure observations, focusing in particular on the power spectrum from the 2dF survey. Our results are consistent with no variation in \ensuremathα from the epoch of recombination to the present day, and restrict any such variation to be less than about 4%. We show that the forthcoming Microwave Anisotropy Probe and Planck experiments will be able to break most of the currently existing degeneracies between \ensuremathα and other parameters, and measure \ensuremathα to better than percent accuracy.