Time variations in the scale of grand unification

2002/09/30 by Michael Dine, Yosef Nir, Guy Raz +1 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.67.015009

published as Phys.Rev. D67 (2003) 015009 · 14 pages, revtex4; Updated observational results and improved statistical analysis (section IV); added references

arxiv created 2002/10/08 · openalex publication_date 2003/01/29 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28

Abstract

We study the consequences of time variations in the scale of grand unification, M_U, when the Planck scale and the value of the unified coupling at the Planck scale are held fixed. We show that the relation between the variations of the low energy gauge couplings is highly model dependent. It is even possible, in principle, that the electromagnetic coupling \ensuremathα varies, but the strong coupling \ensuremathα₃ does not (to leading approximation). We investigate whether the interpretation of recent observations of quasar absorption lines in terms of time variation in \ensuremathα can be accounted for by time variation in M_U. Our formalism can be applied to any scenario where a time variation in an intermediate scale induces, through threshold corrections, time variations in the effective low scale couplings.

Citations

• Nucleosynthesis and the time dependence of fundamental couplings
• Product groups, discrete symmetries, and grand unification
• Constraints on the variations of the fundamental couplings

Cited by

• Probing variations in fundamental constants with radio and optical quasar absorption-line observations