scientists find clue to fundamental nature



In an effort to find a clue to this, an international team of astronomers has looked at something very big, a distant galaxy. It is to study the behavior of things very small, like atoms and molecules. To gain vital clues about the fundamental nature of our entire Universe, the team used the National Science Foundation’s Robert C. Byrd Green Bank Telescope (GBT).



“The fundamental constants of physics are expected to remain fixed across space and time; that’s why they’re called constants! Now, however, new theoretical models for the basic structure of matter indicate that they may change. We’re testing these predictions.” said Nissim Kanekar, an astronomer at the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO), in Socorro, New Mexico.



Changes in two quantities were the astronomers’ queries:

#1: the ratio of the masses of the electron and the proton,

#2: A number, physicists call the fine structure constant, a combination of the electron charge, the speed of light and the Planck constant.



Via: Physorg