Fine Structure Constant- not constant?
The fine structure constant is a very important number in physics (about 1/137). It can not be derived from anything – it represents the absolute strength of electromagnetism. I won’t try to explain what is describes in a short post like this, but if we consider the speed of an electron in orbit around a proton (i.e. the simplest atom) in a Bohr model of the atom at its lowest energy, then the fine structure constant represents the ratio of the speed of that electron to the speed of light in a vacuum i.e. very fundamental – and there are many other equivalent definitions. Clearly the laws of physics depend on the constant.
However recent studies, examining the light from distant quasars, suggest that the constant is actually a variable – it seems to increase (a little) the farther we look in one direction, and to decrease corresondingly the farther we look in the opposite direction, but to be the same looking any distance at right angles to that axis. In other words the universe appears to be polar (like a magnet with north and south poles).
This implies that the laws of physics vary depending on where you measure them in the universe i.e. the universe is not isotropic as usually asserted as an axiom (e.g. for relativity theory).
Fascinatingly this ties in with the independent measurements made in X-rays reported in my previous post about the rate of universal expansion varying, and with the same directional axis.
