English

Maximum Tension: with and without a cosmological constant

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2015-06-22 v3 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory History and Philosophy of Physics

Abstract

We discuss various examples and ramifications of the conjecture that there exists a maximum force (or tension) in general relativistic systems. We contrast this situation with that in Newtonian gravity, where no maximum force exists, and relate it to the existence of natural units defined by constants of Nature and the fact that the Planck units of force and power do not depend on Planck's constant. We discuss how these results change in higher dimensions where the Planck units of force are no longer non-quantum. We discuss the changes that might occur to the conjecture if a positive cosmological constant exists and derive a maximum force bound using the Kottler-Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1408.1820,
  title  = {Maximum Tension: with and without a cosmological constant},
  author = {John D. Barrow and G. W. Gibbons},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1408.1820},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

12 pages, no figures, 3 typos corrected. Matches published version

R2 v1 2026-06-22T05:23:05.355Z