values of fundamental constants

SZYGMUNT@EXODUS.VALPO.EDU
Tue, 03 Nov 1998 10:19:08 -0600 (CST)

Kevin,

Recently you claimed in one of your posts that:

1. There is preliminary evidence that the fundamental constants
of nature have changed over time; and

2. That before the four fundamental forces of nature were
"decoupled", the fundamental constants "could have been
changing constantly and wildly".

Can you please give a reference for (1) above? Of course the
idea of a time-dependent G goes back to Dirac in the 1930s, but
I'm not aware of any solid evidence for its validity.

I'm not an expert in the issues surrounding fine-tuning, but I
have read quite a bit about it, including some papers by Carter
and Barrow. I do not remember ever reading a suggestion that
the fundamental constants could have been "changing" in the manner
you claimed. Can you give a reference for this too?

Would Glenn, Brian, and David Bowman care to comment about these
issues?

Thanks Kevin,

Stan Zygmunt