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Scientists have found evidence that a fundamental physical constant used to measure electromagnetism between charged particles may be rather inconstant, based on measurements taken from a quasar about 13 billion light-years away.
Electromagnetism is one of the four fundamental forces that unite everything in our Universe, along with gravity, the weak nuclear force, and the strong nuclear force. The strength of the electromagnetic interaction between elementary particles is calculated with the help of what is known as the fine structure constant.
However, the new readings, taken in conjunction with other separate study readings, point to small variations in this constant, which could have huge implications for how we understand everything around us.
The latest data also shows that the Universe may have previously hidden the ‘north’ and ‘south’ headings, a definite direction on which these variations in electromagnetism can be mapped.
“[The new study] he seems to be supporting this idea that there could be directionality in the Universe, which is very strange, “says astrophysicist John Webb of the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Australia.” Therefore, the Universe may not be isotropic in its laws of physics, one that is statistically the same in all directions. “
“But in fact, there could be some preferred direction or direction in the Universe where the laws of physics change, but not in the perpendicular direction. In other words, the Universe, in a sense, has a dipole structure.”
The electromagnetic force that surrounds us has a crucial role in binding electrons to nuclei within atoms; without it, matter would simply disintegrate. It provides us with visible light, and it is the main reason that electricity works the way it does.
Using images and data captured by the Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile, the research team was able to measure this force just as it would have appeared in the Universe when it was much younger and closer to its beginnings.
The data requires further testing and verification, but the team says the current results pose a curious question: if the idea of a ‘Goldilocks’ fundamental balance of forces, just perfect for life to exist, applies. in our entire Universe.
“Putting all the data together, electromagnetism seems to increase gradually the more we look, while in the opposite direction it gradually decreases,” says Webb.
“In other directions in the cosmos, the fine-structure constant remains just that: constant. These very distant new measurements have taken our observations further than ever before.”
That idea of directionality in the Universe has been endorsed by researchers who work independently in the USA. USA, who have been busy looking at the nature of X-rays. They have also found a cosmic alignment that points in the same way as the one the UNSW team discovered.
As for what this means for physics on a larger scale, it is too early to say. The findings are absolutely worthy of further research at least, and they mean that the Great Unified Theory, the search for a unifying force that can link electromagnetism, weak and strong nuclear forces, may even have to be shelved for a time.
In fact, research published last year suggests that there could be a fifth fundamental force to consider. The more we look at the Universe and the more we discover, the more complex and strange everything seems.
“Our standard model of cosmology is based on an isotropic universe, one that is statistically the same in all directions,” says Webb. “That standard model itself is based on Einstein’s theory of gravity, which explicitly assumes constancy of the laws of nature.”
“If such fundamental principles turn out to be just good approximations, the doors are open to some very interesting new ideas in physics.”
The research has been published in Scientific advances.
