A stellar test of the physics of unification

TL;DR

This paper explores how solar-type stars can be used to test fundamental physics by examining their internal temperature sensitivity to variations in fundamental constants within unification theories.

Contribution

It introduces a simple stellar model to quantify the Sun's interior temperature response to changes in fundamental constants, providing a novel astrophysical probe of unification scenarios.

Findings

Sensitivity of solar interior temperature to coupling constant variations quantified.

Estimated bounds on variations of fundamental constants based on stellar models.

Discussion of potential future improvements in constraints.

Abstract

We discuss the feasibility of using solar-type main-sequence stars as probes of fundamental physics and unification. We use a simple polytropic stellar structure model and study its sensitivity to variations of the gravitational, strong and electroweak coupling constants in the context of unification scenarios. We quantify the sensitivity of the Sun's interior temperature to these variations, finding $|\Delta\alpha/\alpha|\lesssim1.3\times10^{-4}$ for a 'canonical' choice of unification scenario, and discuss prospects for future improvements.