English

The Cosmological Constant Problems (Talk given at Dark Matter 2000, February, 2000)

Astrophysics 2007-05-23 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

The old cosmological constant problem is to understand why the vacuum energy is so small; the new problem is to understand why it is comparable to the present mass density. Several approaches to these problems are reviewed. Quintessence does not help with either; anthropic considerations offer a possibility of solving both. In theories with a scalar field that takes random initial values, the anthropic principle may apply to the cosmological constant, but probably to nothing else.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0005265,
  title  = {The Cosmological Constant Problems (Talk given at Dark Matter 2000, February, 2000)},
  author = {Steven Weinberg},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0005265},
  year   = {2007}
}

Comments

10 pages, Latex