Paper detail

What could the value of the cosmological constant tell us about the future variation of the fine structure constant?

Motivated by reported claims of the measurements of a variation of the fine structure constant $α$ we consider a theory where the electric charge, and consequently $α$, is not a constant but depends on the Ricci scalar $R$. %We then show how this can be considered a particular case of the Bekenstein theory in which there is no need to %introduce an additional kinetic term for the scalar field associated to the electric charge, since the Einstein's% %equations are sufficient to determine the geometry and, consequently the Ricci scalar. We then study the cosmological implications of this theory, considering in particular the effects of dark energy and of a cosmological constant on the evolution of $α$. Some low-red shift expressions for the variation of $α(z)$ are derived, showing the effects of the equation of state of dark energy on $α$ and observing how future measurements of the variation of the fine structure constant could be used to determine indirectly the equation of state of dark energy and test this theory. In the case of a $ΛCDM$ Universe, according to the current estimations of the cosmological parameters, the present value of the Ricci scalar is $\approx 10%$ smaller than its future asymptotic value determined by the value of the cosmological constant, setting also a bound on the future asymptotic value of $α$.