Varying alpha and the electroweak model

2003/10/02 by Dagny Kimberly, João Magueijo, Joao Magueijo · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Particle physics theoretical and experimental studies #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph

paper · pdf · doi:10.1016/j.physletb.2004.01.050

published as Phys.Lett. B584 (2004) 8-15

arxiv created 2003/10/02 · openalex publication_date 2004/02/11 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/01

Abstract

Inspired by recent claims for a varying fine structure constant, alpha, we investigate the effect of “promoting coupling constants to variables” upon various parameters of the standard model. We first consider a toy model: Proca theory of the massive photon. We then explore the electroweak theory with one and two dilaton fields. We find that a varying alpha unavoidably implies varying W and Z masses. This follows from gauge invariance, and is to be contrasted with Proca theory. For the two dilaton theory the Weinberg angle is also variable, but Fermi's constant and the tree level fermion masses remain constant unless the Higgs potential becomes dynamical. We outline some cosmological implications.

Citations

• Evolution of the fine structure constant driven by dark matter and the cosmological constant
• Spatial variations of fundamental constants
• Looking for a varying α in the cosmic microwave background
• Partial-symmetries of weak interactions

Cited by

• Observable effects of scalar fields and varying constants