Scientists propose that the speed of light is not constant, compared to the textbook saying, the speed of light is constant. They conclude this from understanding of the nature of the vaccum of space.
The speed of light is not a conception of velocity but also is linked to the strength of the electromagnetic force. A varying light speed would effect the strengths of molecular bonds and the density of nuclear mater itself. And a varying speed of light could mean that the measuring of the size of the universe might be not proper.
So the definition of the speed of light is more important to fields such as cosmology and astronomy, which assume a stable velocity for light over time.
Two papers, published in the European Physics Journal D recently, try to explain the implications in the perceptive of the quantum properties of space itself. Though they both propose somewhat different mechanisms, they base it on the idea that the speed of light might change as one alters assumptions about how elementary particles interact with radiation. They both consider that space is not empty, but a great big soup of virtual particles that come into and out of existence in tiny fractions of a second.
However some scientists are a little skeptical about the idea. A particle physicist at the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, said he was he wasn't confident about the mathematical techniques used, and that it seemed in both cases the scientists weren't applying the mathematical tools in the way that most would.
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