English

Is the cosmological constant an eigenvalue?

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2021-03-12 v1

Abstract

We propose to reinterpret Einstein's field equations as a nonlinear eigenvalue problem, where the cosmological constant Λ\Lambda plays the role of the (smallest) eigenvalue. This interpretation is fully worked out for a simple model of scalar gravity. The essential ingredient for the feasibility of this approach is that the classical field equations be nonlinear, i.e., that the gravitational field is itself a source of gravity. The cosmological consequences and implications of this approach are developed and discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2102.09601,
  title  = {Is the cosmological constant an eigenvalue?},
  author = {Giovanni Manfredi},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2102.09601},
  year   = {2021}
}
R2 v1 2026-06-23T23:18:21.247Z