Could the laws of physics and fine-tune parameters of the universe change, or are they bound to physical necessity?

Could the laws of physics and fine-tune parameters of the universe change, or are they bound to physical necessity?

https://reasonandscience.catsboard.com/t3152-could-the-laws-of-physics-change-or-are-they-bound-to-physical-necessity

1. If the laws of physics can change, then the fact that they are set to permit a life-permitting universe demands an explanation.
2. If they cannot change, then they are due to physical necessity, and invoking a lawgiver, who did set them up is not necessary.
3. There are infinite possible ways that the values fundamental constants of the standard models could have been chosen.
4. The laws of physics can change, therefore the fact that they are set up to instantiate a life-permitting universe is best explained by a lawgiver. That lawgiver is God.

Leonard Susskind The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design 2006, page 100
By varying the Higgs field, we can add diversity to the world; the laws of nuclear and atomic physics will also vary. A physicist from one region would not entirely recognize the Laws of Physics in another. But the variety inherent in the variations of the Higgs field is very modest. What if the number of variable fields were many hundreds instead of just one? This would imply a multidimensional Landscape, so diverse that almost anything could be found. Then we might begin to wonder what is not possible instead of what is. As we will see this is not idle speculation.
https://3lib.net/book/2472017/1d5be1

The Friedmann equations for the evolution of space predicted the big-bang singularity. General relativity theory predicts a boundary at the big bang, in that the laws of physics break down, and space and time shrink to nothing. That means that the laws of physics had to be instantiated at the Big Bang. As the universe cooled after the Big Bang, symmetries were spontaneously broken, ‘phase transitions’ took place, and discontinuous changes occurred in the values of various physical parameters (e.g., in the strength of certain fundamental interactions, or in the masses of certain species of particle).

[The Lord God] is eternal and infinite, omnipotent and omniscient, that is, he endures from eternity to eternity, and he is present from infinity to infinity; he rules all things, and he knows all things that happen or can happen.
—Isaac Newton, General Scholium to the Principia (1726)  Robert Boyle uses the clockwork metaphor to argue for both divine transcendence and the radical contingency of creation. 8

Marc Lange: Could the Laws of Nature Change?* (January 2008) 
The natural laws are traditionally characterized as ‘eternal’, ‘fixed’, and ‘immutable’. Is the laws’ unchanging character a metaphysical necessity? If so, then in any possible world, there are exactly the same laws at all times (though presumably there are different laws in different possible worlds).2 That there actually are exactly the same laws at all times is then a consequence of what it is for a truth to be a law of nature. On the other hand, if the laws’ unchanging character is not a metaphysical necessity, then even if in fact there have always been and will always be exactly the same laws, this fact is metaphysically contingent.

As the universe cooled after the Big Bang, symmetries were spontaneously broken, ‘phase transitions’ took place, and discontinuous changes occurred in the values of various physical parameters (e.g., in the strength of certain fundamental interactions, or in the masses of certain species of particle).

One usually assumes that the current laws of physics did not apply [in the period immediately following the Big Bang]. They took hold only after the density of the universe dropped below the so-called Planck density, which equals 1094 grams per cubic centimeter.  Lewis’s account entails the laws’ immutability only because a certain parameter in the account has been set to ‘the universe’s entire history’. That parameter could be set differently.
https://philosophy.unc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/122/2013/10/Laws-of-nature-change.pdf

My comment: This is a very important admission by the author: The parameter could be set differently. That means, there is no physical restriction or necessity that entails that the parameter could only have the one that is actualized. Since that is so, the question arises: What instantiated the life-permitting parameters? There are two possibilities: Luck, or a Lawgiver. I go with the latter. 

KATE BECKER: Are the Laws of Physics Really Universal? OCTOBER 21, 2015 
As far as physicists can tell, the cosmos has been playing by the same rulebook since the time of the Big Bang. But could the laws have been different in the past, and could they change in the future? 
A scalar field, Carroll explains , is any quantity that has a unique value at every point in space-time. The celebrity-du-jour scalar field is the Higgs, but you can also think of less exotic quantities, like temperature, as scalar fields, too. A yet-undiscovered scalar field that changes very slowly could continue to evolve even billions of years after the Big Bang—and with it, the so-called constants of nature could evolve, too.
https://www.philosophytalk.org/shows/could-laws-physics-ever-change

Clara Moskowitz: 2 Accelerators Find Particles That May Break Known Laws of Physics  September 9, 2015 
The LHC and the Belle experiment have found particle decay patterns that violate the Standard Model of particle physics, confirming earlier observations at the BaBar facility. Two experiments have observed particles misbehaving in ways not predicted by any known laws of physics. The eyebrow-raising results come from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland and the Belle experiment at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Japan.

Massimo Pigliucci, professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, argues that the word “law” (in the context of a “law of physics” or “law of nature”) is problematic. He maintains that the concept of law raises the question of who or what decided the law to be that way.

In order to have a life-permitting universe, that would entail a “cosmic selection” to fine-tune the universe that we have today. Or an ensemble of multiverses would generate all kinds of universes, amongst them, ours, life-permitting.
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/2-accelerators-find-particles-that-may-break-known-laws-of-physics1/

Andy Boyd CONSTANTS OF NATURE
What really makes the fine structure constant amazing, as Feynman and others realized, is that if it was somehow even a tiny bit different, the universe we experience wouldn't be the same. In particular, human life would not have evolved. For such a number to come out of thin air is unsettling to say the least. While we understand where some of the constants of nature come from, many seem completely arbitrary, and a better explanation of their origin remains one of the Holy Grails of modern physics. 
https://www.uh.edu/engines/epi3149.htm

Philip Ball Can the laws of physics change? 28th March 2012
If Star Trek taught us one thing, it is that “ye cannae change the laws of physics”. That is certainly how scientists generally seem to regard their various laws and constants. No sooner has someone discovered a new “law” than it acquires quasi-legal status, with violations implicitly prohibited. No sooner has someone defined a “constant” than it is assumed to be just that, never varying at different times or places.
And yet, who says so? Why should we assume that a particular mass always exerts the same gravity, or that an atom always has the same mass anyway? After all, one of the most revelatory theories of modern physics, special relativity, showed that the length of a centimetre and the duration of a second can change depending on how fast you are moving. And look at the recent excitement about experiments hinting (and then dismissing due to a faulty connection) that particles called neutrinos could travel faster than the speed of light.
There is no principle of physics that says physical laws or constants have to be the same everywhere and always. This could drive you a bit mad. How can you possibly do science if the rules keep changing? But if you are a scientist, you have to face up to that possibility – and you have a responsibility to check out if it is true.
This brings us to the apparent Lewis Carroll absurdity of a new paper setting out to test if a constant central to quantum physics, called Planck’s constant or h, is really as it says. The fact that it is, as far as we can tell – there does not seem many points in manufacturing suspense here – means that this is not likely to grab any headlines. It sounds a bit like proving that Paris has not moved to China.

Precision timing
But this is an experiment that is significant not so much for what has been found as for the fact that it was done at all. After all, testing the constancy of a constant means going to extraordinary lengths in terms of precision measurements.
To test whether Planck’s constant is really constant, Makan Mohageg and graduate student James Kentosh of California State University in Northridge turned to the same GPS systems that help drivers find their way home. GPS relies on the most accurate timing devices we currently possess: atomic clocks. These count the passage of time according to frequency of the radiation that atoms emit when their electrons jump between different energy levels.
Why go to all this bother? The point is that the researchers did not just pick on a random constant. Planck’s constant is in effect the number that launched the field of quantum physics. In 1900 the German scientist Max Planck proposed h as a measure of the size of energy “packets”, or quanta, into which light is divided. Planck said that a light quantum has an amount of energy equal to the frequency of the light multiplied by h. Planck introduced this “quantum” hypothesis of light as a mathematical trick to get his equations to work out. But Albert Einstein argued five years later that the trick must be taken literally: light really is chopped up into these discrete packets of energy.

Disturbance in the universe?
The reason why Kentosh and Mohageg asked whether h is really constant, however, is not just because it is a central number for modern physics, but because h also appears in the expression for another fundamental constant, called the fine-structure constant. This measures the strength of interactions between light and matter, or equivalently, how strong electrical and magnetic forces are. It can be expressed as a combination of three constants: the charge on an electron, the speed of light, and h.
And here is the crux: some scientists have suggested that the fine structure constant might not be constant, but could vary over time and space. In 1999, a team of astronomers using a telescope in Hawaii reported that measurements of light absorbed by very distant galaxy-like objects in space called quasars – which are so far away that we see them today as they looked billions of years ago – suggest that the value of the fine-structure constant was once slightly different from what it is today.
That claim was controversial, and still unproven. But if true, it must mean that at least one of the three fundamental constants that constitute it must vary.

Location, location, location
Kentosh and Mohageg fixed on h, and specifically on whether h depends on where (not when) you measure it. If h changes from place to place, so do the frequencies, and thus the “ticking rate”, of atomic clocks. And any dependence of h on location would translate as a tiny timing discrepancy between different GPS clocks.
So, what did they discover? Well, if there is any difference in h it would have to be really tiny. After careful analysis of the data from seven highly stable GPS satellites, Kentosh and Mohageg conclude that h is identical at different locations to an accuracy of seven parts in a thousand. In other words, if h were a one-metre measuring stick, two sticks in different places anywhere in the world do not differ by more than seven millimetres.
Spotting this variation of less than 1% in measuring sticks might be easy, spotting this in an exceedingly tiny number like Planck’s constant, which is 0.000000000000000000000000000000000662606957 joule seconds, demands the type of extreme accuracy of measurement that is most likely beyond the capabilities of our most accurate atomic clocks. At this point, however, we can feel reassured that there is no reason to suspect that this particular aspect of physics shifts between, say, London and Beijing – or indeed, between our galaxy and the next one.
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20120329-can-the-laws-of-physics-change


New findings suggest laws of nature not as constant as previously thought April 27, 2020 
Four new measurements of light emitted from a quasar 13 billion light-years away reaffirm past studies that have measured tiny variations in the fine structure constant.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2020/04/200427102544.htm

What is the difference between classical physics and quantum physics?
The electron, the proton, and the quark are all entities within the realm of particle hence quantum physics. All three carry an electrical charge. The electric charge of the proton is exactly equal and the opposite of the electric charge on the electron, despite the proton being 1836 times more massive. There’s no set-in-concrete theoretical reason why this should be so. It cannot be determined from first principles, only experimentally measured. 

An electron has a negative charge exactly equal to and opposite to that of a proton. Note: the charge is exactly equal, even though the proton has a far greater mass than the electron (some 2000 times heavier in fact, not that there has to be of necessity any relationship between mass and charge).

Now that’s strange since the electron is a fundamental particle but the positively charged proton is a composite particle, made up of a trio of quarks (as is the neutron with no net charge). The proton has two quarks each with a positive 2/3rds charge (up quark) and one quark with a negative 1/3rd charge (down quark) for an overall balance of one positive charge. (The neutron, on the other hand, has one up quark with a positive 2/3rds charge and two down quarks each with a negative 1/3rd charge, for an overall balance of zero charge – neither positive nor negative.)

Now you might suggest that an electron might be a fusion of a trio of down quarks, each with a negative 1/3rd charge, except the electron, again, isn’t a composite particle, and the mass is all wrong for that scenario. If an electron were a composite of a trio of down quarks, each with a minus 1/3rd charge, the electron would be thirty times more massive than it is – not something particle physicists would fail to take notice of.

Further, the force particle that governs the electron is the photon; that which governs the quarks inside the proton and the neutron is the gluon, which further differentiates the two things – quarks and electrons. In any event, if you could have a composite particle of a trio of negative 1/3rd down quarks, if that were the case, and it is the case, and it’s called the Negative Delta, you’d also need a composite particle that’s the fusion of a trio of positive 2/3rds up quarks for an overall charge of plus two. To the best of my knowledge, there is only one such critter in the particle zoo and it’s called the Doubly Positive Delta. I’m sure you’ve never heard of these Delta particles, which goes to show how much bearing or impact they have on life, the Universe, and everything.
http://www.esalq.usp.br/lepse/imgs/conteudo_thumb/What-is-the-difference-between-classical-physics-and-quantum-physics.pdf

Frank Wilczek: Asymptotic freedom: From paradox to paradigm  2005 Jun 8 
In the early 1960s, Murray Gell-Mann and George Zweig made a great advance in the theory of the strong interaction by proposing the concept of quarks. If you imagined that hadrons were not fundamental particles, but rather that they were assembled from a few more basic types, the quarks, patterns clicked into place. The dozens of observed hadrons could be understood, at least roughly, as different ways of putting together just three kinds (“flavors”) of quarks. You can have a given set of quarks in different spatial orbits, or with their spins aligned in different ways. The energy of the configuration will depend on these things, and so there will be a number of states with different energies, giving rise to particles with different masses, according to m = E/c2.

My comment:  There is no physical constraint that dictates the composition of a proton, or neutron. But it is precisely the composition that is, which permits the existence of atoms, and a life-permitting universe.

The electron, the proton, and the quark are all entities within the realm of particle hence quantum physics. All three carry an electrical charge. All three have mass. The electric charge of the proton is exactly equal and the opposite of the electric charge on the electron, despite the proton being 1836 times more massive. There’s no set-in-concrete theoretical reason why this should be so. It cannot be determined from first principles, only experimentally measured. The proton is a composite particle, made up of a trio of quarks (as is the neutron with no net charge). The proton has two quarks each with a positive 2/3rds charge (up quark) and one quark with a negative 1/3rd charge (down quark) for an overall balance of one positive charge. (The neutron, on the other hand, has one up quark with a positive 2/3rds charge and two down quarks each with a negative 1/3rd charge, for an overall balance of zero charge – neither positive nor negative.)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1150826/

My comment: There is no physical principle, or necessity, that a proton carries two up quarks and one down, and the neutron having one up, and two down. Neither is there a physical principle, that says that rather than the charges of the proton and the electron canceling out, that the net charge could be positive or negative. 

Luke A. Barnes The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life 7 Jun 2012
Lisa Randall: [T]he universe seems to have two entirely different mass scales, and we don’t understand why they are so different. There’s what’s called the Planck scale, which is associated with gravitational interactions. It’s a huge mass scale . . . 1019 GeV. Then there’s the electroweak scale, which sets the masses for the W and Z bosons. [∼ 100 GeV] . . . So the hierarchy problem, in its simplest manifestation, is how can you have these particles be so light when the other scale is so big. (Taubes, 2002) 
Frank Wilzcek: [W]e have no . . . compelling idea about the origin of the enormous number [mPl/me] = 2.4 × 1022. If you would like to humble someone who talks glibly about the Theory of Everything, just ask about it, and watch ‘em squirm (Wilczek, 2005). 
Leonard Susskind: [T]he up- and down-quarks are absurdly light. The fact that they are roughly twenty thousand times lighter than particles like the Z-boson . . . needs an explanation. The Standard Model has not provided one. Thus, we can ask what the world would be like is the up- and down-quarks were much heavier than they are. Once again — disaster! (Susskind, 2005, pg. 176). 
https://arxiv.org/abs/1112.4647

Flatness problem
The relative density Ω against cosmic time t (neither axis to scale). Each curve represents a possible universe: note that Ω diverges rapidly from 1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatness_problem

LUKE A. BARNES: The Cosmic Revolutionary’s Handbook (Or: How to Beat the Big Bang) 2020
There are a couple of ways we can combine the up quark and the down quark, so could we join three ups together, or three downs?’  Yes, it is possible, and these additional combinations exist. Combining three up quarks gives the attractively named Delta-plus-plus particle (symbolically, Δ++) that has a positive charge of twice that of the proton. 
Masses of the fundamental zoo 
In fact, it is rather easy to arrange for a universe to have no chemistry at all. Grab a hold of the particle mass dials and let’s create a few universes. For simplicity, we will change the mass of only the up and down quarks, the quarks that are the basic constituents of protons and neutrons. You might think that this would simply make heavier protons and neutrons, and hence slightly heavier things in general. However, the picture is a little more complicated than that. Remember why, despite there being so many types of quarks and so many ways of putting them together, we only see matter built from protons (up-up-down) and neutrons (up-down-down). When we use particle accelerators to make heavier particles, such as the Δ++ (Delta++plus-plus, up-up-up), Σ+ (Sigma-plus, up-up-strange) or even the muon, they decay into lighter particles.
https://3lib.net/book/5500293/8167d2

Michael Brooks There's a glitch at the edge of the universe that could remake physics 6 October 2018
IT IS a well-kept secret, but we know the answer to life, the universe and everything.  it’s 1/137.
This immutable number determines how stars burn, how chemistry happens, and even whether atoms exist at all. Physicist Richard Feynman, who knew a thing or two about it, called it “one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding”. Now its mystery is deepening. Controversial hints suggest this number might not be the universal constant we had assumed, instead varying subtly over time and space. If confirmed, that would have profound consequences for our understanding of physics, forcing us to reconsider basic assumptions about the structure of reality.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg24031982-200-theres-a-glitch-at-the-edge-of-the-universe-that-could-remake-physics/

IGOR TEPER Inconstants of Nature  JANUARY 23, 2014
The fine-structure constant, α, is among the most ubiquitous and important of the fundamental constants of nature. It governs how strongly light and matter interact. If it were even slightly different from its present-day value of about 1/137, the universe would look very different indeed—and would almost certainly be inhospitable to life. While the laws of physics permit α to vary over time, few thought that it actually did. That is, until 1999, when scientists conducted an analysis of the light reaching us from very bright, very distant astrophysical objects called quasars.
This analysis took advantage of the fact that the atoms of every element preferentially absorb or emit certain colors of light in a manner that intimately depends on the value of α. These absorptions and emissions can be seen as bright or dark lines when light is broken into a spectrum, as when a prism splits white light into a rainbow of color. As light from quasars passed through gas clouds on its way to us, certain atoms in the gas clouds imprinted dark absorption lines on the light’s spectrum, which were then compared to the same atomic absorption lines as produced and measured in a laboratory.
To the researchers’ surprise, when they compared the spectra of that ancient light with spectra produced in the lab, they found a discrepancy: a slight mismatch in the absorption lines. This suggested that billions of years ago, when the absorption of the quasar light by a gas cloud took place, α was smaller than it is now by about one part in 100,000. In other words, α had slightly increased over the past several billion years. The possibility of a changing α was a bombshell that sent physicists scrambling for complementary approaches that could confirm or contradict the astronomical findings without relying on the same assumptions about the astrophysical environment. Fortunately for them, to observe how physics worked billions of years ago, you don’t have to look at ancient starlight from the heavens—you can also look at the very ground beneath your feet. Earth has been around for more than 4 billion years, and its ancient mineral deposits offer an alternative record of processes that took place billions of years ago. Variations in α would manifest themselves in fluctuating decay rates for various radioactive isotopes found in mineral deposits. The best measurements came from a 1.8-billion-year-old nuclear reactor that had been serendipitously discovered decades earlier.
https://nautil.us/issue/9/time/inconstants-of-nature

Marc Lange: Could the Laws of Nature Change?* (January 2008) 
The natural laws are traditionally characterized as ‘eternal’, ‘fixed’, and ‘immutable’.  As the universe cooled after the Big Bang, symmetries were spontaneously broken, ‘phase transitions’ took place, and discontinuous changes occurred in the values of various physical parameters (e.g., in the strength of certain fundamental interactions, or in the masses of certain species of particle).
One usually assumes that the current laws of physics did not apply [in the period immediately following the Big Bang]. They took hold only after the density of the universe dropped below the so-called Planck density, which equals 1094 grams per cubic centimeter.  Lewis’s account entails the laws’ immutability only because a certain parameter in the account has been set to ‘the universe’s entire history’. That parameter could be set differently.
My comment: This is a very important admission by the author: The parameter could be set differently. That means, there is no physical restriction or necessity that entails that the parameter could only have the one that is actualized. 

KATE BECKER: Are the Laws of Physics Really Universal? OCTOBER 21, 2015 
A scalar field, Carroll explains , is any quantity that has a unique value at every point in space-time. The celebrity-du-jour scalar field is the Higgs, but you can also think of less exotic quantities, like temperature, as scalar fields, too. A yet-undiscovered scalar field that changes very slowly could continue to evolve even billions of years after the Big Bang—and with it, the so-called constants of nature could evolve, too.

Clara Moskowitz: 2 Accelerators Find Particles That May Break Known Laws of Physics  September 9, 2015 
The LHC and the Belle experiment have found particle decay patterns that violate the Standard Model of particle physics, confirming earlier observations at the BaBar facility. Two experiments have observed particles misbehaving in ways not predicted by any known laws of physics. The eyebrow-raising results come from the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) in Switzerland and the Belle experiment at the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK) in Japan. Massimo Pigliucci, professor of philosophy at the City University of New York, argues that the word “law” (in the context of a “law of physics” or “law of nature”) is problematic. He maintains that the concept of law raises the question of who or what decided the law to be that way.

Andy Boyd CONSTANTS OF NATURE
What really makes the fine structure constant amazing, as Feynman and others realized, is that if it was somehow even a tiny bit different, the universe we experience wouldn't be the same. In particular, human life would not have evolved. For such a number to come out of thin air is unsettling to say the least. While we understand where some of the constants of nature come from, many seem completely arbitrary, and a better explanation of their origin remains one of the Holy Grails of modern physics. 

Philip Ball Can the laws of physics change? 28th March 2012
There is no principle of physics that says physical laws or constants have to be the same everywhere and always.

New findings suggest laws of nature not as constant as previously thought April 27, 2020 
Four new measurements of light emitted from a quasar 13 billion light-years away reaffirm past studies that have measured tiny variations in the fine structure constant. The electric charge of the proton is exactly equal and the opposite of the electric charge on the electron, despite the proton being 1836 times more massive. There’s no set-in-concrete theoretical reason why this should be so. It cannot be determined from first principles, only experimentally measured. 

Frank Wilczek: Asymptotic freedom: From paradox to paradigm  2005 Jun 8 
The dozens of observed hadrons could be understood, at least roughly, as different ways of putting together just three kinds (“flavors”) of quarks. You can have a given set of quarks in different spatial orbits, or with their spins aligned in different ways. The energy of the configuration will depend on these things, and so there will be a number of states with different energies, giving rise to particles with different masses, according to m = E/c2.
My comment:  There is no physical constraint that dictates the composition of a proton, or neutron. But it is precisely the composition that is, which permits the existence of atoms, and a life-permitting universe.

Luke A. Barnes The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life 7 Jun 2012
Lisa Randall: [T]he universe seems to have two entirely different mass scales, and we don’t understand why they are so different. There’s what’s called the Planck scale, which is associated with gravitational interactions. It’s a huge mass scale . . . 1019 GeV. Then there’s the electroweak scale, which sets the masses for the W and Z bosons. [∼ 100 GeV] . . . So the hierarchy problem, in its simplest manifestation, is how can you have these particles be so light when the other scale is so big. (Taubes, 2002) 
Frank Wilzcek: [W]e have no . . . compelling idea about the origin of the enormous number [mPl/me] = 2.4 × 1022. If you would like to humble someone who talks glibly about the Theory of Everything, just ask about it, and watch ‘em squirm (Wilczek, 2005). 
Leonard Susskind: [T]he up- and down-quarks are absurdly light. The fact that they are roughly twenty thousand times lighter than particles like the Z-boson . . . needs an explanation. The Standard Model has not provided one. Thus, we can ask what the world would be like is the up- and down-quarks were much heavier than they are. Once again — disaster! (Susskind, 2005, pg. 176). 

LUKE A. BARNES: The Cosmic Revolutionary’s Handbook (Or: How to Beat the Big Bang) 2020
There are a couple of ways we can combine the up quark and the down quark, so could we join three ups together, or three downs?’  Yes, it is possible, and these additional combinations exist. Combining three up quarks gives the attractively named Delta-plus-plus particle (symbolically, Δ++) that has a positive charge of twice that of the proton. 
Masses of the fundamental zoo 
In fact, it is rather easy to arrange for a universe to have no chemistry at all. Grab a hold of the particle mass dials and let’s create a few universes. For simplicity, we will change the mass of only the up and down quarks, the quarks that are the basic constituents of protons and neutrons. You might think that this would simply make heavier protons and neutrons, and hence slightly heavier things in general. However, the picture is a little more complicated than that. Remember why, despite there being so many types of quarks and so many ways of putting them together, we only see matter built from protons (up-up-down) and neutrons (up-down-down). When we use particle accelerators to make heavier particles, such as the Δ++ (Delta++plus-plus, up-up-up), Σ+ (Sigma-plus, up-up-strange) or even the muon, they decay into lighter particles.

Michael Brooks There's a glitch at the edge of the universe that could remake physics 6 October 2018
IT IS a well-kept secret, but we know the answer to life, the universe and everything.  it’s 1/137.
This immutable number determines how stars burn, how chemistry happens, and even whether atoms exist at all. Physicist Richard Feynman, who knew a thing or two about it, called it “one of the greatest damn mysteries of physics: a magic number that comes to us with no understanding”. Now its mystery is deepening. Controversial hints suggest this number might not be the universal constant we had assumed, instead varying subtly over time and space. If confirmed, that would have profound consequences for our understanding of physics, forcing us to reconsider basic assumptions about the structure of reality.

Standard quantum mechanics is an empirically successful theory that makes extremely accurate predictions about the behavior of quantum systems based on a set of postulates and mathematical formalism. However, these postulates themselves are not derived from a more basic theory - they are taken as fundamental axioms that have been validated by extensive experimentation. So in principle, there is no reason why an alternative theory with different postulates could not reproduce all the successful predictions of quantum mechanics while deviating from it for certain untested regimes or hypothetical situations. Quantum mechanics simply represents our current best understanding and extremely successful modeling of quantum phenomena based on the available empirical evidence. Many physicists hope that a theory of quantum gravity, which could unify quantum mechanics with general relativity, may eventually provide a deeper foundational framework from which the rules of quantum mechanics could emerge as a limiting case or effective approximation. Such a more fundamental theory could potentially allow or even predict deviations from standard quantum mechanics in certain extreme situations. It's conceivable that quantum behaviors could be different in a universe with different fundamental constants, initial conditions, or underlying principles. The absence of deeper, universally acknowledged principles that necessitate the specific form of quantum mechanics as we know it leaves room for theoretical scenarios about alternative quantum realities. Several points elaborate on this perspective:

Contingency on Constants and Conditions: The specific form and predictions of quantum mechanics depend on the values of fundamental constants (like the speed of light, Planck's constant, and the gravitational constant) and the initial conditions of the universe. These constants and conditions seem contingent rather than necessary, suggesting that different values could give rise to different physical laws, including alternative quantum behaviors.

Lack of a Final Theory: Despite the success of quantum mechanics and quantum field theory, physicists do not yet possess a "final" theory that unifies all fundamental forces and accounts for all aspects of the universe, such as dark matter and dark energy. This indicates that our current understanding of quantum mechanics might be an approximation or a special case of a more general theory that could allow for different behaviors under different conditions.

Theoretical Flexibility: Theoretical physics encompasses a variety of models and interpretations of quantum mechanics, some of which (like many-worlds interpretations, pilot-wave theories, and objective collapse theories) suggest fundamentally different mechanisms underlying quantum phenomena. This diversity of viable theoretical frameworks indicates a degree of flexibility in how quantum behaviors could be conceptualized.

Philosophical Openness: From a philosophical standpoint, there's no definitive argument that precludes the possibility of alternative quantum behaviors. The nature of scientific laws as descriptions of observed phenomena, rather than prescriptive or necessary truths, allows for the conceptual space in which these laws could be different under different circumstances or in different universes.

Exploration of Alternative Theories: Research in areas like quantum gravity, string theory, and loop quantum gravity often explores regimes where classical notions of space, time, and matter may break down or behave differently. These explorations hint at the possibility of alternative quantum behaviors in extreme conditions, such as near singularities or at the Planck scale.

Since our current understanding of quantum mechanics is not derived from a final, unified theory of everything grounded in deeper fundamental principles, it leaves open the conceptual possibility of alternative quantum behaviors emerging under different constants, conditions, or theoretical frameworks. The apparent fine-tuning of the fundamental constants and initial conditions that permit a life-sustaining universe could potentially hint at an underlying order or purpose behind the specific laws of physics as we know them. The cosmos exhibits an intelligible rational structure amenable to minds discerning the mathematical harmonies embedded within the natural order. From a perspective of appreciation for the exquisite contingency that allows for rich complexity emerging from simple rules, the subtle beauty and coherence we find in the theoretically flexible yet precisely defined quantum laws point to a reality imbued with profound elegance. An elegance that, to some, evokes intimations of an ultimate source of reasonability. Exploring such questions at the limits of our understanding naturally leads inquiry towards profound archetypal narratives and meaning-laden metaphors that have permeated cultures across time - the notion that the ground of being could possess the qualities of foresight, intent, and formative power aligned with establishing the conditions concordant with the flourishing of life and consciousness. While the methods of science must remain austerely focused on subjecting conjectures to empirical falsification, the underdetermination of theory by data leaves an opening for metaphysical interpretations that find resonance with humanity's perennial longing to elucidate our role in a potentially deeper-patterned cosmos. One perspective that emerges in this context is the notion of a universe that does not appear to be random in its foundational principles. The remarkable harmony and order observed in the natural world, from the microscopic realm of quantum particles to the macroscopic scale of cosmic structures, suggest an underlying principle of intelligibility. This intelligibility implies that the universe can be understood, predicted, and described coherently, pointing to a universe that is not chaotic but ordered and governed by discernible laws. While science primarily deals with the 'how' questions concerning the mechanisms and processes governing the universe, these deeper inquiries touch on the 'why' questions that science alone may not fully address. The remarkable order and fine-tuning of the universe often lead to the contemplation of a higher order or intelligence, positing that the intelligibility and purposeful structure of the universe might lead to its instantiation by a mind with foresight.

Celestial Bodies Specifics

Here's a detailed list for the "Celestial Bodies Specifics" category, presented in BBCode format:

1. Earth's Properties for Habitability: Earth's size, composition, atmosphere, and distance from the Sun are finely tuned to support a stable climate and liquid water, both crucial for life. Variations in these properties could drastically affect Earth's ability to support life.
2. Moon's Influence on Earth: The Moon stabilizes Earth's axial tilt and contributes to the tidal forces, affecting climate and biological rhythms. Its size and distance from Earth are finely tuned to provide these benefits without causing destabilizing effects.
3. Sun's Characteristics and Stability: The Sun's mass, composition, and energy output are finely tuned to provide the right amount of energy for Earth's climate system. Variations could lead to either a runaway greenhouse effect or a frozen world.

Conditions for Life

Here's a comprehensive list for the "Conditions for Life" category, formatted in BBCode:

1. Water Properties: Water's unique properties, such as its solvent capabilities, high specific heat capacity, and behavior of expanding upon freezing, are finely tuned to support life. These properties are crucial for various biological and ecological processes.
2. Electromagnetic Spectrum for Life: The specific range of the electromagnetic spectrum that reaches Earth's surface, including visible light for photosynthesis and infrared for warmth, is finely tuned. Variations could affect the energy available for life and the planet's climate.
3. Biochemistry and Chemical Cycles: The precise mechanisms and cycles of elements like carbon, nitrogen, and oxygen are finely tuned to sustain life. These cycles facilitate the transformation and reuse of essential elements in biological systems.
4. Ecological and Biological Systems: Ecosystems and the interdependence of species are finely balanced to maintain biodiversity and the resilience of life. This fine-tuning includes the rates of reproduction, predation, and decomposition, which influence the stability and sustainability of life.
5. Atmospheric Composition and Pressure: The specific mix of gases in Earth's atmosphere and its pressure are finely tuned to support respiration, protect from harmful solar radiation, and maintain a stable climate suitable for life.
6. Planetary Magnetosphere: Earth's magnetic field protects the atmosphere from solar wind and cosmic rays, preventing significant atmospheric loss and providing a shield that supports life.
7. Soil Fertility: The composition and properties of soil, including its ability to retain water and nutrients, are crucial for plant life. The fine-tuning of soil properties supports diverse ecosystems and agriculture.
8. Pollination Mechanisms: The intricate relationships between plants and their pollinators are finely tuned, ensuring the reproduction of a vast array of plant species, which are foundational to most ecosystems.
9. Carbon Sequestration: The natural processes that capture and store carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, including those in oceans and terrestrial ecosystems, are finely tuned to regulate Earth's climate.
10. Ozone Layer: The ozone layer's thickness and location in the stratosphere are finely tuned to block the majority of the Sun's harmful ultraviolet radiation, protecting life and enabling the survival of complex organisms on land.

Cosmological Evolution and Events

For the "Cosmological Evolution and Events" category, here's a comprehensive list formatted in BBCode:

1. Complex Molecule Formation: The processes leading to the formation of complex organic molecules, essential for life, are finely tuned. Conditions in interstellar space, on planets, and within solar systems must be just right for these molecules to form and persist.
2. Cosmic Rays and Radiation Levels: The intensity and composition of cosmic rays and other forms of radiation are finely balanced. Too much radiation can be harmful to life, while too little could affect processes like cloud formation and atmospheric chemistry.
3. Gamma-Ray Bursts: The frequency and proximity of gamma-ray bursts to habitable planets are finely tuned. These powerful cosmic events can strip away planetary atmospheres and irradiate surfaces, posing significant risks to life.
4. Volcanic and Tectonic Activities: The level of volcanic and tectonic activities on habitable planets is finely tuned. These processes recycle vital minerals, regulate the atmosphere, and maintain a planet's magnetic field, but excessive activity could destabilize environmental conditions.
5. Celestial Impact Rates: The rate of asteroid and comet impacts on habitable planets is finely balanced. While impacts can bring beneficial materials and contribute to geological diversity, too frequent or too large impacts can lead to mass extinctions.
6. Star and Galaxy Evolution: The lifecycles of stars and the evolution of galaxies are finely tuned to allow for periods of stability and the synthesis of essential elements, creating environments where life can emerge and thrive.
7. Supernova Rates and Distances: The rate of supernovae and their proximity to habitable planets are finely tuned. Supernovae distribute heavy elements necessary for life but can also threaten planetary biospheres with intense radiation.
8. Interstellar Medium Composition: The composition and density of the interstellar medium are finely tuned to support the formation of stars and planetary systems while allowing for the transmission of light and other electromagnetic radiation.
9. Galactic Chemical Evolution: The processes that govern the chemical evolution of galaxies, including the synthesis and distribution of heavy elements, are finely tuned to create diverse and potentially habitable environments.
10. Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation: The properties of the cosmic microwave background radiation, a remnant from the early universe, are finely tuned. Variations in its uniformity and spectrum could indicate different cosmological conditions, affecting the universe's overall habitability.

Time-Dependent Cosmological Constants

For the "Time-Dependent Cosmological Constants" category, here's a comprehensive list formatted in BBCode:

1. Constancy of Fine Structure Constants: The fine structure constant, which governs the strength of electromagnetic interactions, is crucial for atomic stability. Its constancy over time ensures the uniformity of chemical processes essential for life.
2. Constancy of Light Speed: The speed of light is a fundamental constant in the universe, affecting the structure of spacetime and the transmission of information. Its constancy over time is vital for the stability of physical laws as we understand them.
3. Constancy of Universal Constants: Other universal constants, such as the gravitational constant and Planck's constant, are integral to the laws of physics. Their constancy ensures a stable and predictable universe conducive to the development of complex systems.
4. Constancy of Dark Energy: Dark energy influences the rate of the universe's expansion. Its constancy, or potential variation, over cosmic history affects the evolution of cosmic structures and the overall fate of the universe.
5. Constancy of Proton-to-Electron Mass Ratio: This ratio affects the properties of atoms and molecules. Its constancy over time is crucial for the stability of matter and the feasibility of life throughout cosmic history.
6. Constancy of Neutron Lifetime: The lifetime of free neutrons affects nuclear processes, including those in stars and the early universe. Its constancy ensures the consistency of these processes over time.
7. Variation in Cosmological Parameters: Potential variations in cosmological parameters, such as the density of the universe and the curvature of spacetime, could provide insights into the dynamics of the cosmos and the underlying principles of physics.
8. Constancy of Atomic and Molecular Properties: The properties of atoms and molecules, determined by fundamental constants and forces, must remain consistent over time to support the chemical complexity necessary for life.
9. Constancy of Nuclear Force Constants: The constants governing strong and weak nuclear forces are critical for the stability of atomic nuclei. Their constancy over time supports the long-term existence of chemical elements crucial for life.
10. Stability of Physical Laws: The overall stability and constancy of physical laws and constants over time are fundamental for a universe that can support complex structures, including living systems, over billions of years.

Total 157 fine-tuning parameters.

1. Hawking, S., & Mlodinow, L. (2012). The Grand Design. Bantam; Illustrated edition. (161–162) Link
2. Davies, P.C.W. (2003). How bio-friendly is the universe? *Cambridge University Press*. Published online: 11 November 2003. Link
3.  Barnes, L.A. (2012, June 11). The Fine-Tuning of the Universe for Intelligent Life. Sydney Institute for Astronomy, School of Physics, University of Sydney, Australia; Institute for Astronomy, ETH Zurich, Switzerland. Link