Universal Constants in Physics

[geordief]

I am thinking of c and h although I think there may be others.

 

What is the role of these constants?

 

Are they interconnected and is it the aim of a TOE to find those connections?

 

Is their role as mathematical "agents of conversion" more important than the actual value that is assigned to them?

 

 

Posted in this section as there didn't seem an obvious choice among the Physics subforums....

Edited January 14, 2017 by geordief

[Sensei]

In one of interpretations of QM,

The Cosmic Landscape

made by Leonard Susskind,

one of String Theory authors,

there is infinite amount of parallel universes each with different physical constants.

https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Landscape-String-Illusion-Intelligent/dp/0316013331

 

Get book, and read it, and tell us your thoughts.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Sensei

[geordief]

In one of interpretations of QM,

The Cosmic Landscape

made by Leonard Susskind,

one of String Theory authors,

there is infinite amount of parallel universes each with different physical constants.

https://www.amazon.com/Cosmic-Landscape-String-Illusion-Intelligent/dp/0316013331

 

Get book, and read it, and tell us your thoughts.

I don't think I can do that as I am a very slow learner and reader and would have to justify that expenditure of time.*

 

Does my question need these other universes with their different posited universal constants to have significance (my question ,I mean)?

 

*The book is very reasonably priced ,though and would be tempting to have in the house.

[Sriman Dutta]

G is another constant.

[geordief]

G is another constant.

And the permittivity of a vacuum ? Is that considered to be another (universal constant)?

[proximity1]

I think your questions are excellent ones and I've wondered the same. You can judge for yourself by the replies how welcome such wondering aloud is at this site. By now, I've learned that when I have such questions I turn to a text, some other person or site I know --the last thing I'd do is post a question such as yours and expect better than "go read up on it and report back to us."

 

I suspect that, if he or she could discover the what, how and why of a fundamental relationship between these and other seeemingly basic physical constants, that discovery would be any serious physicist's dream come true.

 

_______________

 

I found a paper which I think is relevant to your questions. It's in ".pdf"

 

 

 

 

"On the relation between mass of a pion, fundamental physical constants and cosmological parameters"

 

Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic1

PH Division CERN

CH-1211 Geneva 23

dragan.hajdukovic@cern.ch

1On leave from Cetinje, Montenegro

 

link : https://www.google.it/url?q=https://arxiv.org/pdf/0810.4678&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjpqJa-hMLRAhVCwxQKHUjPBmsQFggUMAI&usg=AFQjCNHklsgiAx2ltO3lOtPf2on5PereLA

Edited January 14, 2017 by proximity1

[Strange]

And the permittivity of a vacuum ? Is that considered to be another (universal constant)?

 

 

Yes, and the permeability.

You can choose units such that many of the fundamental constants = 1. This simplifies some equations, as shown here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck_units#List_of_physical_equations

 

There will still be other constants that maintain their current values. These are dimensionless constants such as the fine structure constant (and e and pi, etc).

[Sriman Dutta]

One relation I can think of is-

[math]c^2=\frac{1}{e_0 \mu_0}[/math]

where [math]c[/math] is speed of light,[math]e_0[/math] is vacuum permittivity and [math]\mu_0[/math] is the vacuum permeability.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Sriman Dutta

[geordief]

One relation I can think of is-

[math]c^2=\frac{1}{e_0 \mu_0}[/math]

where [math]c[/math] is speed of light,[math]e_0[/math] is vacuum permittivity and [math]\mu_0[/math] is the vacuum permeability.

Thanks.

[proximity1]

See also

 

"The Trouble with Quantum Mechanics"

by Steven Weinberg | January 19, 2017 Issue of The New York Review of Books

 

nybooks.com

 

http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2017/01/19/trouble-with-quantum-mechanics/

 

 

An open access article.

 

 

Deals with key issues and interpretive differences regarding QM. A review with historical background given.

Edited January 15, 2017 by proximity1

[geordief]

 

I found a paper which I think is relevant to your questions. It's in ".pdf"

 

 

 

 

"On the relation between mass of a pion, fundamental physical constants and cosmological parameters"

 

Dragan Slavkov Hajdukovic1

PH Division CERN

CH-1211 Geneva 23

dragan.hajdukovic@cern.ch

1On leave from Cetinje, Montenegro

 

link : https://www.google.it/url?q=https://arxiv.org/pdf/0810.4678&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjpqJa-hMLRAhVCwxQKHUjPBmsQFggUMAI&usg=AFQjCNHklsgiAx2ltO3lOtPf2on5PereLA

Thanks.Yes it is relevant .

 

Sadly far ahead of my level so I can't profit much from it but I do think I can see the areas it goes into and asks questions of.

 

I see the same author was the subject of another ,perhaps slightly related topic on another science forum site a year or so ago

 

https://www.thenakedscientists.com/forum/index.php?topic=53806.0

 

Again ,well ahead of me to have any opinion.

Edited January 15, 2017 by geordief