Fine-structure constant: Difference between revisions

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== Anthropic explanation ==

The [[anthropic principle]] isprovides an argument aboutas to the reason the fine-structure constant has the value it does: stable matter, and therefore life and intelligent beings, could not exist if its value were very different. One example isFor thatinstance, if modern grand unified theories are correct, then {{mvar|α}} needs to be between around 1/180 and 1/85 to have proton decay to be slow enough for life to be possible.<ref>

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|last=Barrow |first=John D.