2016/02/26 by Ariel Amir, Mikhail Lemeshko, Amir, Ariel +3 · 2 voices
#physics.pop-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1603.00299
In science, as in life, `surprises' can be adequately appreciated only in the presence of a null model, what we expect a priori. In physics, theories sometimes express the values of dimensionless physical constants as combinations of mathematical constants like pi or e. The inverse problem also arises, whereby the measured value of a physical constant admits a `surprisingly' simple approximation in terms of well-known mathematical constants. Can we estimate the probability for this to be a mere coincidence, rather than an inkling of some theory? We answer the question in the most naive form.