This work presents a local-limit audit of a product-volume strain framework for cadence-dependent alpha residuals. The naive unscreened coupling from the strain coordinate Ξ to electromagnetic observables is shown to fail laboratory constraints. A viable realization requires a derived screening mechanism mapping the cosmic degree of freedom Ξ to a local form Ξ(r,ρ). The paper isolates this mapping as the central unresolved component and provides explicit failure modes, parameter constraints, and falsifiability conditions. This document is an audit (v1), not a completed local theory. If no screening mechanism exists that suppresses laboratory alpha variation while preserving detectable clock-network residuals, the framework fails.
Nicky Joseph Huberthus Catharina Hacquier (2026) studied this question.