English

Geometric origin of the cosmological constant from Einstein-Chern-Simons gravity compactified to four dimensions

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2026-04-03 v1 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

We present a model in which the cosmological constant emerges as a purely geometric effect from the four-dimensional compactification of five-dimensional Einstein-Chern-Simons gravity. The compactification of the extra dimension generates an effective cosmological constant Λ\Lambda depending on the compactification radius rcr_c, the coupling parameter ll, and the trace h~\tilde{h} of the compactified field hah^a, rather than being introduced as a free parameter. The resulting field equations are structurally equivalent to those of General Relativity with a cosmological constant, so all known vacuum solutions -- Schwarzschild--de Sitter, Kerr--de Sitter, and FLRW spacetimes -- remain valid. As a concrete application, we derive the Kottler (Schwarzschild--de Sitter) black hole solution. We identify two dynamical regimes. In the weak-field regime, Λl2h~/rc3\Lambda \propto l^{2}\tilde{h}/r_{c}^{3}, whose sign is controlled by l2h~l^2\tilde{h}, requiring fine-tuning to reproduce Λobs1052m2\Lambda_{\text{obs}} \approx 10^{-52}\,\text{m}^{-2}. In the strong-field regime, dependence on ll and h~\tilde{h} cancels algebraically, yielding Λ3/(4rc2)\Lambda \approx 3/(4r_{c}^{2}) independently of the Chern-Simons coupling. This regime naturally reproduces Λobs\Lambda_{\rm obs} for rc0.78H018.2×1025mr_{c} \approx 0.78\,H_{0}^{-1} \approx 8.2 \times 10^{25}\,\text{m}, without fine-tuning. The Bekenstein-Hawking entropy of the cosmological horizon gives Scosm=4πkBrc2/lPl210122kBS_{\rm cosm} = 4\pi k_B r_c^2/l_{\rm Pl}^2 \sim 10^{122}\,k_B, consistent with the Gibbons-Hawking result and admitting a direct geometric interpretation in terms of rcr_c. This framework geometrically reframes the cosmological constant problem: rather than asking why Λ\Lambda is small, one asks why rcr_c is large -- a reformulation compatible with a large extra dimension without violating established gravitational tests.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.01536,
  title  = {Geometric origin of the cosmological constant from Einstein-Chern-Simons gravity compactified to four dimensions},
  author = {M. Cataldo and S. Lepe and C. Riquelme and P. Salgado},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.01536},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

9 pages