English

Microscopic origin of Einstein's field equations and the raison d'\^{e}tre for a positive cosmological constant

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2021-12-20 v1 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In the paradigm of effective field theory, one hierarchically obtains the effective action Aeff[q,]\mathcal{A}_{\rm eff}[q, \cdots] for some low(er) energy degrees of freedom qq, by integrating out the high(er) energy degrees of freedom ξ\xi, in a path integral, based on an action A[q,ξ,]\mathcal{A}[q,\xi, \cdots]. We show how one can integrate out a vector field vav^a in an action A[Γ,v,]\mathcal{A}[\Gamma,v,\cdots ] and obtain an effective action Aeff[Γ,]\mathcal{A}_{\rm eff}[\Gamma, \cdots] which, on variation with respect to the connection Γ\Gamma, leads to the Einstein's field equations and a metric compatible with the connection. The derivation \textit{predicts} a non-zero, positive, \cc, which arises as an integration constant. The Euclidean action A[Γ,v,]\mathcal{A}[\Gamma,v, \cdots], has an interpretation as the heat density of null surfaces, when translated into the Lorentzian spacetime. The vector field vav^a can be interpreted as the Euclidean analogue of the microscopic degrees of freedom hosted by any null surface. Several implications of this approach are discussed.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2112.09446,
  title  = {Microscopic origin of Einstein's field equations and the raison d'\^{e}tre for a positive cosmological constant},
  author = {T. Padmanabhan and Sumanta Chakraborty},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.09446},
  year   = {2021}
}

Comments

Published Version; 12 pages; Prof. T. Padmanabhan has passed away on 17th September, 2021, while this paper was under review in a journal