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A physical constant, sometimes fundamental physical constant or universal constant, is a physical quantity that cannot be explained by a theory and therefore must be measured experimentally. It is distinct from a mathematical constant , which has a fixed numerical value, but does not directly involve any physical measurement.
The constants listed here are known values of physical constants expressed in SI units; that is, physical quantities that are generally believed to be universal in nature and thus are independent of the unit system in which they are measured. Many of these are redundant, in the sense that they obey a known relationship with other physical ...
The term fundamental physical constant is sometimes used to refer to some universal dimensionless constants. Perhaps the best-known example is the fine-structure constant , α , which has an approximate value of 1 / 137.036 .
Only those universes with fundamental constants hospitable to life, such as on Earth, could contain life forms capable of observing the universe who can contemplate the question of fine-tuning. [30] Zhi-Wei Wang and Samuel L. Braunstein argue that the apparent fine-tuning of fundamental constants could be due to the lack of understanding of ...
The immutability of these fundamental constants is an important cornerstone of the laws of physics as currently known; the postulate of the time-independence of physical laws is tied to that of the conservation of energy (Noether's theorem), so that the discovery of any variation would imply the discovery of a previously unknown law of force.
Hence what we normally conceive as the fundamental constants of the universe are ultimately the result of the anthropic principle rather than dictated by theory. This has led to criticism of string theory, [ 38 ] arguing that it cannot make useful (i.e., original, falsifiable , and verifiable) predictions and regarding it as a pseudoscience ...
The fine-tuned universe hypothesis is the proposition that the conditions that allow the existence of observable life in the universe can only occur when certain universal fundamental physical constants lie within a very narrow range of values.
An important development in the 1980s was the combination of inflation theory with the hypothesis that some parameters are determined by symmetry breaking in the early universe, which allows parameters previously thought of as "fundamental constants" to vary over very large distances, thus eroding the distinction between Carter's weak and ...