Runaway Domain Wall and Space-time Varying alpha

Abstract

Recently spatial as well as temporal variations of the fine structure constant alpha have been reported. We show that a "runaway domain wall", which arises for the scalar field potential without minima, can account for such variations simultaneously. The time variation is induced by a runaway potential and the spatial variation is induced by the formation of a domain wall. The model is consistent with the current cosmological data and can be tested by the future experiments to test the equivalence principle.