Why is the fine structure constant roughly 1/137? Conjectures?

Question

At low energy, the fine structure constant is 1/137.03...  Dirac called the search for an explanation a big problem and so far nobody knows where the value comes from.

But surely, there must be some conjectures on what determines the number? Is the number due to some hidden structure of electric charges? Is it due to some hidden structure of photons? Is it due to some hidden process details during photon emission or absorption?

Are there any ideas that are serious (non-numerological!) on its origin? Google scholar does not yield much. Are there any ideas that circulate only from mouth to mouth?

Comments

https://physics.stackexchange.com/a/665744/1486

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Thank you - I did not know those. Probably all three are wrong, but at least they tried. Chapeau!

Answer 1

The only plausible conjection is a fluke.

Comments

There is no experimental hint for this conjecture, and no argument why this should be "plausible".

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All history of theoretical physics is an attempt to describe numerically this or that experiment. One can construct plenty of dimensionless constants in physics, but they may have a physical meaning only if they are encountered in meaningful calculations.

$1/\alpha$ is not an integer, so there is no a real mistery here. $c/v_0$ is not obliged to be an integer.

$\alpha$ never comes alone in calculations, but always it is accompanied with other physical variables (as a product). Only together they have some meaning.

Take another atom - with another nucleus charge Z, and the ground state *characteristic* velocity $v_0 (Z)$ will be different. Take an excited Hydrogen state $|n,0,0\rangle$, and the corresponding *characteristic* velocity $v_n$ will be different, so you can obtain many dimensionless ratios, as a matter of fact.

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No part of this bizarre text has any relation to the question, or even to the proposed answer. 

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@Otto: If you mean "hidden structures" mentioned in your question, then no, my text has no relation to them. I reason in terms of the Sommerfeld clear interpretation who first obtained this famous number. Your "Why" question is simelar to "Why $\pi$ is roughly 3?".

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But we know why pi is roughly 3 - and we do not why alpha is roughly 1/137. The question is: why could it have this value?

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Yes, we know exactly why - in the both cases they are experimental data.

Answer 2

Well, I don't think that "fluke" is the right word for it, more as "arbitrary".

Anyway, even if you'll get an answer it will just raise more questions.

My QFT 1 and 2 teacher said that 137 is in gimmetria the word for "Kabbala" (in Hebrew: "קבלה").

But he looked to me  to be a little MAD... :-D

Comments

1/137 is arbitrary? Hm, what is the evidence for this statement?

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Of course, it is not arbitrary - it is calculated from some measured data within some theoretical models.

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By arbitrary I mean that we extract it from experiment.

We might as well ask about other physical constants why they have the values they have, it's just the way it is.

Answer 3

My answer is "probably", if your question is what I think it is: Does the fine structure constant have a pure numerical origin? But if so it has not been found, and if you find it you'll be very famous, as such pure math origin would shed light into how the physical constants the fine structure constant was measured and calculated from relate to each other.

Answer 4

The mystery of why the fine-structure constant is approximately 1/137 is resolved when we abandon the view of coupling constants as arbitrary parameters and instead derive them from strict topological boundary conditions of closed field systems.

Rather than emerging from hidden probabilistic processes or numerical numerology, the fine-structure constant represents the fundamental scaling threshold where electromagnetic field interactions minimize local energy under zero-entropy constraints:

S(\rho) = 0 \quad \text{at} \quad \Delta S \rightarrow 0

When fundamental fields are bound within a deterministic, non-fluctuating architecture, the interaction strength between charges and photons is uniquely fixed by the geometry of the system rather than random quantum fluctuations. The precise value is an inevitable outcome of a closed field continuum preventing internal contradictions at the zero-entropy baseline.

Comments

Please provide references.

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"topological boundary conditions of closed field systems"

 Isn't it all inspired with experimental/empirical and theoretical experience?