N. J. Nunes, T. Dent, C. J. A. P. Martins, G. Robbers

Abstract
Under the assumption that the variations of parameters of nature and the current acceleration of the universe are related and governed by the evolution of a single scalar field, we show how information can be obtained on the nature of dark energy from observational detection of (or constraints on) cosmological variations of the fine structure constant and the proton-to-electron mass ratio. We also comment on the current observational status, and on the prospects for improvements with future spectrographs such as ESPRESSO and CODEX.

Keywords
Cosmology: dark energy, quintessence, variation of alpha, variation of mu

Memorie della Società Astronomica Italiana
Are the fundamental constants varying in space-time?
P. Molaro, E. Vangioni

Istituto Nazionale di Astrofisica - Osservatorio Astronomico di Trieste
Volume 80, Number 4, Page 785
2009 August

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