Quasar puts limit on variation of fundamental constants

Theorists who seek to show that the universal constants of Nature actually vary over cosmic times are now faced with a harder row to hoe. By comparing radio and optical spectra from a quasar, Arthur Wolfe of the University of Pittsburgh, and Robert Brown and Morton Roberts of the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (Green Bank, West Virginia) have placed narrow limits on the possible variation of three constants. The time span of the observations—granted the widely accepted interpretation of the redshift as reflecting the expansion of the Universe—is over one‐third the age of the Universe.