DIRAC'S COSMOLOGY AND RADIOACTIVE DATING

Abstract

It has long been recognized that Dirac's principle might imply that the rate of β decay would vary with the age of the universe. If so, the radioactive ages of meteorites and terrestrial rocks as indicated on the one hand by α decay and on the other by β decay should differ. However, the comparison of these ages is complicated by a large uncertainty in the decay constant for Rb87. Thus the age data must be analyzed to determine the decay constant most compatible with the particular theory of β decay which is used. Using this best decay constant for each theory, we find that the data are more consistent with a β decay rate independent of the age of the universe than with the dependence implied by the Dirac principle.