用探针来寻找精细结构常量的变化

用探针来寻找精细结构常量的变化

美国宇宙学家计划用一种新的方法来测量130亿年前的精细结构常量，以了解该常量的值是否与现在不同。该方法通过测量氢原子如何吸收宇宙微波背景辐射光子来获得精细结构常量的值，虽然还有待天文观察的验证。精细结构常量决定了电磁相互作用的强度，是自然界里的一个基本常量，这个方法有可能提供新的证据证明该常量实际上并不一定保持恒定。

Probe seeks changes in fine-structure constant (Mar 23)
http://physicsweb.org/article/news/11/3/18
Cosmologists in the US have proposed a new way to measure the
fine-structure constant as it was some 13 billion years ago -- and see
if its value differed from that measured today. The method, which has
yet to be verified using astronomical observations, involves measuring
how hydrogen atoms absorbed photons from the cosmic microwave
background. It could provide further evidence that this fundamental
constant of nature -- which defines the strength of the electromagnetic
interaction -- is not actually a constant after all (Phys. Rev. Lett. 98
11301).