Testing theories that predict time variation of fundamental constants

We consider astronomical and local bounds on time variation of fundamental constants to test some generic Kaluza-Klein-like models and some particular cases of Beckenstein theory. Bounds on the free parameters of the different theories are obtained. Furthermore, we find that none of the proposed models, is able to explain recent results [Webb99,Webb00] claiming an observed variation of the fine structure constant from quasar absorption systems at redshifts $0.5<z<3$.Comment: 18 pages, 2 figures, new data adde

Charge conservation and time-varying speed of light

It has been recently claimed that cosmologies with time dependent speed of light might solve some of the problems of the standard cosmological scenario, as well as inflationary scenarios. In this letter we show that most of these models, when analyzed in a consistent way, lead to large violations of charge conservation. Thus, they are severly constrained by experiment, including those where $c$ is a power of the scale factor and those whose source term is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. In addition, early Universe scenarios with a sudden change of $c$ related to baryogenesis are discarded.Comment: 4 page

Event Texture Search for Phase Transitions in Pb+Pb Collisions

NA44 uses a 512 channel Si pad array covering $1.5 <\eta < 3.3$ to study charged hadron production in 158 A GeV Pb+Pb collisions at the CERN SPS. We apply a multiresolution analysis, based on a Discrete Wavelet Transformation, to probe the texture of particle distributions event-by-event, allowing simultaneous localization of features in space and scale. Scanning a broad range of multiplicities, we search for signals of clustering and of critical behavior in the power spectra of local density fluctuations. The data are compared with detailed simulations of detector response, using heavy ion event generators, and with a reference sample created via event mixing. An upper limit is set on the probability and magnitude of dynamical fluctuations