Varying Fine Structure Constant - Any recent results?

[asimov42]

Hi all,

I was wondering if there have been any recent (i.e., in the last 10'ish months) results / articles which either support or refute the claim made by Webb et al. in the article "Evidence for spatial variantion of the fine structure constant"? http://arxiv.org/abs/1008.3907

Also, if one believes the Webb et al. result, does looking at spatial variations in the past say anything about how the 'constant' might be changing now? Or are there many models with different variations which would fit the data?

Thanks in advance from a layman.

J.

 

[asimov42]

And on a related note, would a change in the fine structure constant imply a change in the vacuum energy density?

 

[yenchin]

How about http://arxiv.org/abs/1105.1981 ?