This paper introduces new tests of fundamental physics by means of the analysis of disturbances on the GNSS signal propagation. We show how the GNSS signals are sensitive to a space variation of the fine structure constant $\alpha$ in a generic framework of effective scalar field theories beyond the Standard Model. This effective variation may originate from the crossing of the RF signals with dark matter clumps and/or solitonic structures. At the macroscopic scale, the subsequent disturbances are equivalent to those which occur during the propagation in an inhomogeneous medium. We thus propose an interpretation of the "measure" of the vacuum permeability as a test of fundamental physics. We show the relevance of our approach by a first quantification of the expected signature in a simple model of a variation of $\alpha$ according to a planar geometry. We use a test-bed model of domain walls for that purpose and focus on the measurable time delay in the GNSS signal carrier.

中文翻译：

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使用 GNSS 信号传播的基础物理测试

本文通过分析对 GNSS 信号传播的干扰，介绍了基础物理学的新测试。我们展示了 GNSS 信号如何在标准模型之外的有效标量场理论的通用框架中对精细结构常数 $\alpha$ 的空间变化敏感。这种有效的变化可能源于射频信号与暗物质团块和/或孤子结构的交叉。在宏观尺度上，随后的扰动相当于在非均匀介质中传播过程中发生的扰动。因此，我们建议将真空渗透率的“测量”解释为对基础物理学的测试。我们通过根据平面几何在 $\alpha$ 变化的简单模型中对预期签名进行第一次量化来展示我们的方法的相关性。为此，我们使用了畴壁的试验台模型，并专注于 GNSS 信号载波中的可测量时间延迟。