  The fine-structure constant alpha does not vary as Friedmann Universes
evolve, a conclusion based on assessments of quantum mechanics and
electrodynamics. alpha = e^2/(4pi epsilon hbar c), where e is the charge of the
electron, epsilon is vacuum permittivity, c is the speed of light, and hbar is
Planck's constant divided by 2pi. This inquiry was motivated by Schrodinger's
(1939) prediction that all quantum wave functions coevolve with Friedmann
geometry and a similar prediction by Sumner (1994) for vacuum permittivity. The
functional form of variations in quantum wave functions found by Schrodinger is
enough to show that alpha does not vary. Electrodynamics also predicts that
alpha does not vary. Evolutionary changes in c exactly cancel those in vacuum
permittivity and other factors in alpha do not change. Since alpha appears in
all first-order perturbation formulas for atomic energy levels, comparisons of
the atomic spectra of distant atoms with those in laboratories provide an
experimental measure of this prediction. Most experiments find changes in alpha
that are either statistically zero or very small. These results and estimates
of the Hubble constant and deceleration parameter from precision
redshift/magnitude data support a major assumption of this paper that the
Friedmann solution to Einstein's theory of general relativity without
cosmological constant is an adequate approximation to spacetime geometry and
its long term evolution at quantum scales.
