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#1
11-08-2005, 01:12 PM
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How long before the forces change?
The way I understand it is that at one point c, the speed of light, wasn't c. It had a different value. I can't remember exactly what "setting" of one of the forces caused c to be what it was. From what i understand as the universe expanded the "settings" changed as so did c. At what point in the universes' expansion will the "settings" give?
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#2
11-08-2005, 01:47 PM
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Re: How long before the forces change?
[ QUOTE ]
The way I understand it is that at one point c, the speed of light, wasn't c. It had a different value. I can't remember exactly what "setting" of one of the forces caused c to be what it was. From what i understand as the universe expanded the "settings" changed as so did c. At what point in the universes' expansion will the "settings" give? [/ QUOTE ] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_speed_of_light
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#3
11-08-2005, 05:52 PM
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Re: How long before the forces change?
I believe the consensus is that it makes little sense for a dimensionful "constant" to change... One can define "c" in various inequivalent ways, by taking the ratio of various observable quantities. Really one needs to specify the change in a dimensionless quantity (like the electromagnetic coupling constant) to have any operational meaning.
There is a brief paper on this here: http://www.arxiv.org/PS_cache/hep-th...08/0208093.pdf On a first reading, if you're not too conversant in physics, I recommend going straight to the section "response to criticisms" at the end -- it highlights the main issues. As you can see, this is a somewhat subtle issue that has caused a good deal of confusion with many physicists.
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