The DOI matches its Crossref record; 38 of the 38 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
The fundamental constants and their variation: observational and theoretical status
Open accessAbstract
This article describes the various experimental bounds on the variation of the fundamental constants of nature. After a discussion of the role of fundamental constants, their definition and link with metrology, it reviews the various constraints on the variation of the fine-structure constant, the gravitational, weak- and strong-interaction couplings and the electron-to-proton mass ratio. The review aims (1) to provide the basics of each measurement, (2) to show as clearly as possible why it constrains a given constant, and (3) to point out the underlying hypotheses. Such an investigation is of importance in comparing the different results and in understanding the recent claims of the detection of a variation of the fine-structure constant and of the electron-to-proton mass ratio in quasar absorption spectra. The theoretical models leading to the prediction of such variation are also reviewed, including Kaluza-Klein theories, string theories, and other alternative theories. Cosmological implications of these results are also discussed. The links with the tests of general relativity are emphasized.
Overview
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Verification
Claims the paper makes
The claims and statistics of this paper haven’t been checked yet.
Run the check — free, no account needed. It reads the open-access text and checks the sources it cites.
Self-check
Percentages, sums and reported differences re-computed from the paper’s own numbers.
The self-check needs the paper’s full text.
Citations
Cites
Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
Riess, A. G., Filippenko, A. V., Challis, P., Clocchiatti, A., Diercks, A., Garnavich, P. M., Gilliland, R. L., Hogan, C. J., Jha, S., Kirshner, R. P., et al. (1998) · The Astronomical Journal · doi:10.1086/300499 · Cited by 19,704
The cosmological constant problem
Weinberg, S. (1989) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.61.1 · Cited by 7,341
Mach's Principle and a Relativistic Theory of Gravitation
Brans, C., & Dicke, R. H. (1961) · Physical Review · doi:10.1103/physrev.124.925 · Cited by 5,621
Heterotic and Type I string dynamics from eleven dimensions
Hořava, P., & Witten, E. (1996) · Nuclear Physics B · doi:10.1016/0550-3213(95)00621-4 · Cited by 1,984
Gasser, J., & Leutwyler, H. (1982) · Physics Reports · doi:10.1016/0370-1573(82)90035-7 · Cited by 1,753
DIRAC, P. A. M. (1937) · Nature · doi:10.1038/139323a0 · Cited by 1,495
Fourth test of general relativity
Shapiro, I. I. (1964) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.13.789 · Cited by 1,137
Some properties of O(32) superstrings
Witten, E. (1984) · Physics Letters B · doi:10.1016/0370-2693(84)90422-2 · Cited by 1,021
Search for a realistic Kaluza-Klein theory
Witten, E. (1981) · Nuclear Physics B · doi:10.1016/0550-3213(81)90021-3 · Cited by 772
Search for Time Variation of the Fine Structure Constant
Webb, J. K., Flambaum, V. V., Churchill, C. W., Drinkwater, M. J., & Barrow, J. D. (1999) · Physical Review Letters · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.82.884 · Cited by 754
Cited by
The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
Will, C. M. (2014) · Living Reviews in Relativity · doi:10.12942/lrr-2014-4 · Cited by 3,996
The Universe in a Helium Droplet
Volovik, G. E. (2009) · doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199564842.001.0001 · Cited by 2,632
The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
Will, C. M. (2006) · Living Reviews in Relativity · doi:10.12942/lrr-2006-3 · Cited by 1,606
Douglas, M. R., & Kachru, S. (2007) · Reviews of Modern Physics · doi:10.1103/revmodphys.79.733 · Cited by 1,122
Further evidence for a variable fine-structure constant from Keck/HIRES QSO absorption spectra
Murphy, M. T., Webb, J. K., & Flambaum, V. V. (2003) · Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society · doi:10.1046/j.1365-8711.2003.06970.x · Cited by 514
Metadata
- Authors
- Uzan, J.-P.
- Venue
- Reviews of Modern Physics
- Publisher
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Published
- 2003-04-07
- Volume
- 75
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 403-455
- ISSN
- 0034-6861 (ISSN-L)
- 1539-0756
- OpenAlex
- W1532239545
- Cited by
- 1,162
- References
- 38
- FWCI
- 42.33
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review
How to cite
Cite CoChat for the checks on this page, and the paper for its own findings.
- This page
- CoChat. (2026). Citation check: The fundamental constants and their variation: observational and theoretical status. https://app.cochat.ai/papers/10.1103/revmodphys.75.403
- The paper
- Uzan, J.-P. (2003). The fundamental constants and their variation: observational and theoretical status. Reviews of Modern Physics. https://doi.org/10.1103/revmodphys.75.403
Data sources
Bibliographic data: Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, Crossref.
Contains information from the Semantic Scholar Academic Graph Datasets, made available under the ODC Attribution License (ODC-BY 1.0).
Semantic Scholar’s data is described in: Kinney, R., et al. (2023). The Semantic Scholar Open Data Platform. arXiv:2301.10140.