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Checking the Positional Invariance of Planck's Consant Using GPS
gzipped_tar writes "Whether the fundamental constants really stay the same is always a question worth asking. In particular, the constancy of Planck's Constant is something that cannot be simply ignored, owing to its universal importance in linking the quantum and classical pictures of our world. Using publicly available GPS data and terrestrial clocks, researchers form the California State University were able to verify that the value of h indeed stays the same across different positions in the vicinity of our Earth. Their result says the local position invariance of h is satisfied within a limit of 0.007. The paper is published in the journal Physical Review Letters (abstract), and a free-to-read preprint is available on arXiv. In short: by the well-known formula E = h * f, a hypothetical variation on h induces changes in f, the transition frequency that keeps the time in atomic clocks, both on earth and aboard the satellites. When taking account of other time variations, such as general relativistic time dilation, and assuming the invariance of E (atomic transition energy) on physical grounds, we can figure out an upper bound on the variation of h reflected in the measured variation in f."
But have you figured out why your not getting laid yet?
No. But have you figured out why you're not using the correct form of you're?
In short: by the well-known formula E = h * f, a hypothetical variation on h induces changes in f, the transition frequency that keeps the time in atomic clocks, both on earth and aboard the satellites. When taking account of other time variations, such as general relativistic time dilation, and assuming the invariance of E (atomic transition energy) on physical grounds, we can figure out an upper bound on the variation of h reflected in the measured variation in f."
But have you figured out why your not getting laid yet?
His dick is so small Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle is a factor. If he moves it he can't find it, and if he finds it he can't move it.
this reads like time cube
Scientists get to have all the fun. Most people would have to worry about being fired for Plancking while on the job.
*ba-dum tssh*
I can't help but wonder if they aren't at least a little disappointed that there wasn't some small systematic error that would have indicated some variation of the Planck constant. They came up with a complex experiment, collected all the data, and then nothing changes. The FTL neutrino guys certainly got a lot more out of their mistake than these people will get out of their "yup, everything as expected" result.
Errors in GPS results have been unwound to tell thinks about atmospheric ionization, general relativity, and now planck's constant.
Huh?.... There's not a lot of posts I don't understand on Slashdot but this is defiantly one off them...
No, it's different clocks, but they got a deal on the connecting cables from LHC...
kurzweil_freak
5th Kyu Genbukan Ninpo/KJJR student
Be the darkness that allows the light to shine.
Checking the Positional Invariance of Planck's Consant Using GPS
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Checking the Positional Invariance of Planck's Constant Using GPS
Given that h is very small (1e-15, 1e-34 or 1e-27 depending on units), a limit of .007 seems rather large.
As oposed to the well known engeneering saying that "variables won't, constants aren't"?
Sometimes constants aren't constant in physics either. If we don't look for variances, we won't ever be sure that something is constant.
Rethinking email
Time Cube starts to make a bit more sense when you realize that "four simultaneous 24-hour days" is just a long way of saying "four time zones". But GameCube still makes more sense.
My big gripe with physics is a lot of its models assume...linearity of systems. I don't want to be the asshole who begins with "assume an invisible, silent, odorless dragon in the garage"...
Because I know that's not science.
But -- I'd like to see a little more exploration and less blind Faith in science. Which by definition is happening in the known universe. I'm not asking people to check the unknown universe, but let's measure on a bit more than... earth.
Can we get this tested under more *interesting* conditions than earth?
Can we test plank's constant as we accelerate an object near light speed or subject it to overwhelming gravitational force? How about as we heat or cool it? How about as we take that quanta and accelerate or decelerate it?
This isn't to say scientists should test all conceivable systems --but there are a variety of fundamental units and forces in the universe in which behavior has been shown to couple in unexpected manners when dealing with "sufficiently large or small" units. Planck's constant handles the small end. Let's see what it does at the other extreme.
That result is interesting but if the variation of h across Earth's orbit court be as high as 0.007, it could on principle be much greater across much.larger scales. Is it the same at the center of the galaxy? In other galactic clusters? Over billions of years? The conditions of measurement were very small compared to those scales.
We can measure frequency with much more precision than anything else. I'm surprised their upper bound is so high.
It's spelled constant, not consant.
And when I want to have points, I don't. When I don't want to have points, I do. I would love points for this. Someone mod this up, anon or not, funny as hell.
This is invariance across space. Next we need to check invariance across Time
Where's the map?
that relates our unit of mass to the unit of time. If Planck's constant varied, it would be saying that either our standard kilogram, or atomic clocks vary in our neighbourhood - something that can be tested independently. I'm not sure what this research is actually achieving.