Mach like principle from conserved charges

TL;DR

This paper explores models where fundamental constants depend on conserved charges of the universe, proposing a Mach-like principle that links constants to global properties, with implications for Lorentz invariance and cosmology.

Contribution

It introduces a framework where gauge and gravitational constants are functions of conserved charges, extending Mach's principle to all constants of nature and analyzing their invariance properties.

Findings

Constants depend on the universe's total charge

Lorentz invariance can be restored via phase transformations

Cosmological constant can depend on total charge

Abstract

We study models where the gauge coupling constants, masses and the gravitational constant are functions of some conserved charge in the universe, and furthermore a cosmological constant that depends on the total charge of the universe. We first consider the standard Dirac action, but where the mass and the electromagnetic coupling constant are a function of the charge in the universe and afterwards extend this to curved spacetime and consider gauge coupling constants, the gravitation constant and the mass as a function of the charge of the universe, which represent a sort of Mach principle for all the constants of nature. In the flat space formulation, the formalism is not manifestly Lorentz invariant, however Lorentz invariance can be restored by performing a phase transformation of the Dirac field, while in the curved space time formulation, there is the additional feature that some of the equations of motion break the general coordinate invariance also, but in a way that can be understood as a coordinate choice only, so the equations are still of the General Relativity type, but with a certain natural coordinate choice, where there is no current of the charge. We have generalized what we have done and also constructed a cosmological constant which depends on the total charge of the universe. If we were to use some only approximately conserved charge for these constructions, like say baryon number (in the context of the standard model), this will lead to corresponding violations of Lorentz symmetry in the early universe for example. The construction of charge dependent contributions can also be motivated from the structure of the "infra-red counter terms" needed to cancel infra red divergences for example in three dimensions.