The Cosmology Of Extra Dimensions And Varying Fundamental Constants

The workshop on The Cosmology of Extra Dimensions and Varying Fundamental Constants, which was part of JENAM 2002, was held at the Physics Department of the University of Porto (FCUP) from the 3rd to the 5th of September 2002. It was regularly attended by about 110 participants, of which 65 were officially registered in the VFC workshop, while the others came from the rest of the JENAM workshops. There were also a few science correspondents from the national and international press. During the 3 days of the scientific programme, 8 Invited Reviews and 30 Oral Communications were presented. The speakers came from 11 different European countries, and also from Argentina, Australia, Canada, Japan and the U.S.A. There were also speakers from six Portuguese research institutions, and nine of the speak ers were Ph.D. students. The contributions are presented in these proceedings in chronological order. The workshop brought together string theorists, particle physicists, theoretical and observational cosmologists, relativists and observational astrophysicists. It was generally agreed that this inter-disciplinarity was the greatest strength of the work shop, since it provided people coming into this very recent topic from the various different backgrounds with an opportunity to understand each other's language and thereby gain a more solid understanding of the overall picture.

Assuming basic knowledge of special and general relativity, this book guides the reader to problems under consideration in modern research, concerning black holes, wormholes, cosmology, and extra dimensions. Its first part is devoted to local strong field configurations (black holes and wormholes) in general relativity and its most relevant extensions: scalar-tensor, f(R), and multidimensional theories. The second part discusses cosmology, including inflation and problems of a unified description of the whole evolution of the universe. The third part concerns multidimensional theories of gravity and contains a number of original results obtained by the authors. Expository work is conducted for a mechanism of symmetries and fundamental constants formation. The original approach to nonlinear multidimensional gravity that is able to construct a unique perspective describing different phenomena is highlighted.Much of the content was previously presented only in journal publications and is new for book contents, e.g., on regular black holes, various scalar field solutions, wormholes and their stability, inflation, clusters of primordial black holes, and multidimensional gravity. The last two topics are added in this new edition of the book. The other chapters are also updated to include new discoveries like the detection of gravitational waves.

A new theoretical framework is presented to explain the evolution of the universe based on the time-varying properties of the fundamental constants. A static universe with time-varying constants can explain the origin of the cosmic microwave background radiation, CMB anisotropies, the CMB cold spot, the observed redshift-distance modulus data, the origin and composition of dark matter in the universe, galaxy cluster mass estimates, Milky Way galaxy luminosity estimates, population II stellar properties, vacuum-photon interactions, energy cycling between matter, radiation and vacuum field components, time-varying Higgs mechanism and particle mass, and the observed matter-antimatter dichotomy. This is a complete theoretical framework that explains the observable universe and resolves many of the issues with modern-day cosmology.

The question of a possible temporal variation of the fundamental constants was raised by Paul Dirac in his "large number hypothesis" in 1937. Today it appears in the context of the search for a unified theory of the fundamental interactions. It touches both fundamental and applied physics, as the postulate of the unalterability of the constants is the foundation for modern metrology. The book presents reviews written by leading experts in the field. Focussing on the question of variations of the fundamental "constants" in time or space, the chapters cover the theoretical framework in which variations are expected and the search for variations of quantities like the fine-structure constant, the electron/proton mass ratio, g-factors of proton and neutron etc. in astrophysical and geophysical observations and in precision experiments with atomic clocks and frequency standards.

The constants of nature are the numbers that define the essence of the Universe. They tell us how strong its forces are, and what its fundamental laws can do: the strength of gravity, of magnetism, the speed of light, and the masses of the smallest particles of matter. They encode the deepest secrets of the Universe and express at once our greatest knowledge and our greatest ignorance about the cosmos. Their existence has taught us the profound truth that Nature abounds with unseen regularities. Yet, while we have become skilled at measuring the values of these constants, our frustrating inability to explain or predict their values shows how much we still have to learn about the inner workings of the Universe. What is the ultimate status of these constants of Nature? Are they truly constant? Could life have evolved and persisted if they were even slightly different? And are there other Universes where they are different? These are some of the issues that this book grapples with. It looks back to the discoveries of the first constants of Nature and the impact they had on scientists like Einstein. This book also tells the story of a tantalising new development in astronomy. For the first time astronomical observations are suggesting that some of the constants of Nature were different when the Universe was younger. So are our laws of Nature slowly changing? Is anything about our Universe immune from the ravages of time? Are there any constants of Nature at all?

In this highly accessible book, leading scientists from around the world give a general overview of research advances in their subject areas within the field of Astronomy. They describe some of their own cutting-edge research and give their visions of the future. Re-written in a popular and well-illustrated style, the articles are mainly derived from scholarly and authoritative papers published in special issues of the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions, the world's longest running scientific journal. Carefully selected by the journal's editor, topics include the Big Bang creation of the universe, the formation and evolution of the stars and galaxies, cold dark matter, explosive sun-spot events, and humankind's exploration of the solar system. The book conveys the excitement and enthusiasm of the authors for their work at the frontiers of astronomy. All are definitive reviews for people with a general interest in the future directions of science. Contents:Cosmology and the Big Bang:The Paradigm of Inflation (J García-Bellido)Small Scales, Big Issues for Cold Dark Matter (A J Benson)Violence and Black Holes in the Hearts of Galaxies (C G Mundell)Probing the Universe:Quest for Gravitational Waves (B S Sathyaprakash)Strong-Field Tests of Relativistic Gravity with Pulsars (M Kramer)Gamma-Ray Bursts as Cosmological Probes (N R Tanvir)Stars and Conditions for Life:Gamma-Ray Bursts (D Lazzati)Astrophysical Dust (M Gray)Extrasolar Planets (H R A Jones & J S Jenkins)Solar System and Climate Change:Our Solar System (A Coates)The Solar Dynamo (S Tobias)Explosions on the Sun (L K Harra)and other papers Readership: Research scientists, academics, graduates and post-graduates, and general readers with an interest in science. Key Features:A unique presentation of the latest cutting-edge research, written by world experts in a readable style akin to that of Scientific American or New ScientistBeautifully illustrated with diagrams and photographsIncludes a Foreword writer John BarrowKeywords:Astronomy;Cosmology;Big Bang;Stars;Galaxies;Dark Matter;Gamma-Ray Bursts;Cosmic Radiation;Solar System;Sun-Spots;Climate;Telescopes