Constants and Variables of Nature

 Sean Carroll, University of Chicago

 It is conventional to imagine that the various parameters which
 characterize our physical theories, such as the fine structure 
 constant or Newton's gravitational constant, are truly "constant",
 in the sense that they do not change from place to place or time
 to time.  Recent developments in both theory and observation have
 led us to re-examine this assumption, and to take seriously the
 possibility that our supposed constants are actually gradually
 changing.  I will discuss why we might expect these parameters to
 vary, and what observation and experiment have to say about the
 issue.


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Sean Carroll				    Enrico Fermi Institute
carroll@theory.uchicago.edu		    University of Chicago
http://pancake.uchicago.edu/~carroll/	    5640 S. Ellis Ave.
Off: 773/702-7635   Fax: 773/834-2222	    Chicago, IL  60637
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