Variation of the fine structure constant due to a cosmological scalar.
Name: Ingrid Ferreira da Costa
Type: MSc dissertation
Publication date: 14/12/2018
Advisor:
Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Valerio Marra | Advisor * |
Examining board:
| Name |
Role |
|---|---|
| Galen Mihaylov Sotkov | Internal Examiner * |
| Hermano Endlich Schneider Velten | Internal Examiner * |
| Ronaldo Carlotto Batista | External Examiner * |
| Valerio Marra | Advisor * |
Summary: In this work, we present the evolution and the consequent variation of the fine structure constant a due to a cosmological scalar, which in our case is coupled to the electromagnetic field. To do so, we use a quintessence cosmological model to demonstrate the cosmic evolution of a through a dynamical system. Then we compare its evolution with the observational limits on the variation of a. We conclude that it is useful to consider interactions between dark energy and other fields because we can use more observational data (limits on the variation of a) in order to constrain the nature of dark energy.
