Are the Fundamental Constants Changing?

Viewers like you help make PBS (Thank you 😃) . Support your local PBS Member Station here: https://to.pbs.org/DonateSPACE Uploaded 28-09-17 Recent findings suggest that the fundamental constants might not be as stable as we assumed. And be sure to signup for your free trial of The Great Courses Plus at http://ow.ly/rcsA30beNw1 You can further support us on Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/pbsspacetime Get your own Space Time t­shirt at http://bit.ly/1QlzoBi Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime Facebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetime Email us! pbsspacetime \[at] gmail \[dot] com Comment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetime Help translate our videos! https://www.youtube.com/timedtext\cs\... Previous Episode: The Future of Space Telescopes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kL81uuYW9BY&t=40s Webb et al. 1998, A Search for Time Variation of the Fine Structure Constant https://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/9803165 Webb et al. 2011, A Search for Time Variation of the Fine Structure Constant https://arxiv.org/abs/1008.3907 Martins and Pinho 2016, Stability of Fundamental Couplings: a Global Analysis https://arxiv.org/abs/1701.08724 The laws of physics are the same everywhere in the universe. At least we astrophysicists hope so. After all, it’s hard to unravel the complexities of distant parts of the universe if we don’t know the basic rules. But what if this is wrong? There is a hint of evidence that the fundamental constants that govern our universe may evolve over time, and even from one location to another. Written by Graeme Gossel and Matt O’Dowd Hosted by Matt O'Dowd Produced by Rusty Ward Graphics by Kurt Ross Assistant Editing and Sound Design by Mike Petrow Made by Kornhaber Brown (www.kornhaberbrown.com) Special thanks to our Patreon Big Bang, Quasar and Hypernova Supporters: Big Bang BITISM CoolAsCats David Nicklas Richard Senegor Quasar Tambe Barsbay Meo Meow Oink Oink Mayank M. Mehrota Mars Yentur Mark Rosenthal Dean Fuqua Hypernova Max Levine Edmund Fokschaner Eugene Lawson Chuck Zegar Jordan Young Ratfeast John Hofmann Joseph Salomone Martha Hunt Craig Peterson Barry Hatfield Matthew O’Connor Thanks to our Patreon Gamma Ray Burst Supporters: Scott Gossett Mark Dykstra Peter Durocher Michael Kers Chris Hicks Mark Vasile Patrick Murray Sultan Alkhulaifi Alex Seto Michal-Peanut Karmi Bernardo Higuera Erik Stein Daniel Lyons Kevin Warne JJ Bagnell J Rejc Amy Jie Avi Goldfinger John Pettit Shannan Catalano Florian Stinglmayr Yubo Du Benoit Pagé-Guitard Nathan Leniz Jessica Fraley Loro Lukic Brandon Labonte David Crane Greg Weiss The Great Courses Plus is currently available to watch through a web browser to almost anyone in the world and optimized for the US market. The Great Courses Plus is currently working to both optimize the product globally and accept credit card payments globally. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices