Laws of Physics Vary Throughout the Universe,

[Skwim]

New Study Suggests.

ScienceDaily (Sep. 9, 2010) — A team of astrophysicists based in Australia and England has uncovered evidence that the laws of physics are different in different parts of the universe.

The team -- from the University of New South Wales, Swinburne University of Technology and the University of Cambridge -- has submitted a report of the discovery for publication in the journal Physical Review Letters. A preliminary version of the paper is currently under peer review.

The report describes how one of the supposed fundamental constants of Nature appears not to be constant after all. Instead, this 'magic number' known as the fine-structure constant -- 'alpha' for short -- appears to vary throughout the universe.

"After measuring alpha in around 300 distant galaxies, a consistency emerged: this magic number, which tells us the strength of electromagnetism, is not the same everywhere as it is here on Earth, and seems to vary continuously along a preferred axis through the universe," Professor John Webb from the University of New South Wales said.

"The implications for our current understanding of science are profound. If the laws of physics turn out to be merely 'local by-laws', it might be that whilst our observable part of the universe favours the existence of life and human beings, other far more distant regions may exist where different laws preclude the formation of life, at least as we know it."

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[Revoltingest]

Interesting. The universality of observable laws across space & time is one of the premises which has been acknowledged.
We've always known that it's possible that it could be turned on its head, with interesting ramifications. I don't know if
they've finally done it, but it's still interesting.
The universe could be saying to us, "I am what I am & that's all that I am....but I vary from place to place."

[jarofthoughts]

If this holds up it could prove to be very interesting indeed.
The next step would of course to find out what it is that makes this constant vary. Which could be the next scientific breakthrough with profound technological implications.

[Reptillian]

I don't buy it...mainly because if the laws of nature vary throughout the universe, it would allow for violations of conservation of energy/momentum at the borders of regions with different laws. There is a famous result called Noether's theorem which shows that conservation of energy/momentum is a consequence of the fact that the laws of nature are the same everywhere throughout time/space. "If you have a theory which contradicts Newton's laws of motion, then so much the worse for Newton...but if you have a theory which contradicts the laws of thermodynamics, then may God have mercy on your soul." The first law of thermodynamics (conservation of energy) is probably the only thing that keeps the universe from destroying itself through natural processes.

[Skwim]

Originally Posted by Reptillian

I don't buy it...mainly because if the laws of nature vary throughout the universe, it would allow for violations of conservation of energy/momentum at the borders of regions with different laws.

Why would it? From what I understand it's merely a variance in the strength of electromagnetic interaction: stronger here--weaker there.

What I found interesting is that the variance was configured with an axial geometry.

[Reptillian]

Originally Posted by Skwim

Why would it? From what I understand it's merely a variance in the strength of electromagnetic interaction: stronger here--weaker there.

What I found interesting is that the variance was configured with an axial geometry.

I agree that the axial varience is interesting, but violations of conservation of energy could occur at the boundaries...be they fuzzy or discrete. Think in terms of electromagnetic potential and kinetic energy...if the force strength varies, then I can use that to my advantage to create energy across the barrier...if I were clever enough I could probably construct a perpetual motion machine. Seems like a huge problem to me.

[evolved yet?]

If that were true the "great heat out" would be unlikely, that would be good for our descendants( if we exist 1000000000000 years from now).

[Quiddity]

I saw this the other day. The change, as already noted, is simply a variance in the magnetic fields. However, this is supposed to open up dialogue on what else isn't constant?

[Requia]

Originally Posted by Reptillian

I agree that the axial varience is interesting, but violations of conservation of energy could occur at the boundaries...be they fuzzy or discrete. Think in terms of electromagnetic potential and kinetic energy...if the force strength varies, then I can use that to my advantage to create energy across the barrier...if I were clever enough I could probably construct a perpetual motion machine. Seems like a huge problem to me.

There's no reason for this to violate conservation of energy that I can see, the force strength of electromagnetism already varies with distance, this just changes how it varies, not that it does.

[Reptillian]

Lets use an example from gravity. Imagine you have a ball falling from some height. It has potential energy due to its position and as it falls that potential energy gets converted to kinetic energy. But suppose the ball was falling, hit a border where the laws of nature are different, then suddenly started falling at some new slower/faster speed. Some kinetic energy was lost/gained that didn't go to/come from potential energy. So where did that energy go to/come from? I guess one way this could still be salvaged is if you have a global conservation of energy with local violations...so the boundaries all "conspire" to still keep energy conserved as a whole.