title: Can a Changing alpha Explain the Supernovae Results?
abstract: We show that the supernovae results, which imply that there is evidence for an accelerating universe, may be closely related to the recent discovery of redshift dependence in the fine-structure constant alpha. The link is a class of varying speed-of-light (VSL) theories that contain cosmological solutions that are similar to quintessence. During the radiation-dominated epoch, the cosmological constant Lambda is prevented from dominating the universe by the usual VSL mechanism. In the matter-dominated epoch, the varying-c effects switch off, allowing Lambda to eventually surface and lead to an accelerating universe. By the time this happens, the residual variations in c imply a changing alpha at a rate that is in agreement with observations.
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Barrow
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Magueijo