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There are numerous constants that define the physical universe, from the fine structure constant to Planck to the speed of light etc.

Can any of these be altered locally? For example, it seems that we might be able to alter the speed of light in vacuum using the Casimir Effect Are there any other possible examples?

  • I suppose constants could be promoted to fields, which could evolve, and we could influence that evolution. – innisfree Jan 27 '16 at 12:07
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    But a constant isn't dynamical by definition, so no we cannot alter them. – innisfree Jan 27 '16 at 12:08
  • I'm rather looking for an experimental approach as I outlined above –  Jan 27 '16 at 12:21
  • @innisfree That's why I put "constants" in inverted commas. However, even Dirac talking about varying constants so I don't think I am in bad company https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dirac_large_numbers_hypothesis –  Jan 27 '16 at 12:23
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    Vernor Vinge in "A Fire Upon the Deep" creates a universe in which certain physical laws (affecting FTL travel) vary with distance from galactic clusters. You're not going to be able to do any of this in our universe. – Carl Witthoft Jan 27 '16 at 12:54
  • The Casimir effect doesn't alter the speed of light in vacuum any more than a simple waveguide does. The speed of light in vacuum is the speed of light in vacuum, it's not the speed of light in some sort of enclosed volume. Of course the latter is different... one does not need to go to quantum mechanics to know that. The classical theory predicts it, already. – CuriousOne Jan 27 '16 at 15:53
  • @CuriousOne Scharnhorst effect –  Jan 27 '16 at 16:21
  • Exactly... two plates is not the same as vacuum. That's as trivial as it sounds. – CuriousOne Jan 27 '16 at 16:36
  • @CuriousOne Except that it is faster than c in vacuum, and we are not talking about phase velocity etc but "real" speed. It is not predicted in classical physics –  Jan 27 '16 at 17:13
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    Predictions in physics have only one use: to invalidate hypotheses. If this is a firm prediction of QFT and no such effect can be found in nature (and so far it has not been), then this would invalidate QFT. I am more inclined to believe, though, that it's just a poorly interpreted calculation. Irrespective of that... it's still not an effect that changes the speed of light in vacuum. – CuriousOne Jan 27 '16 at 17:16

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