Unimodular approaches to the cosmological constant problem
Abstract
We review selected aspects of unimodular gravity and we discuss its viability as a solution of the old cosmological constant problem. In unimodular gravity the cosmological constant is promoted to a global degree of freedom. We highlight the importance of correctly setting up its initial data in order to achieve a resolution of the cosmological constant problem on a semi-classical level. We review recent path integral analysis of quantum aspects of unimodular gravity to note that the semi-classical findings carry over to the quantum level as well. We point out that a resolution of the problem inherently relies on a global constraint on the space-time four-volume. This makes the theory closely related to the vacuum energy sequester, which operates in a similar way. We discuss possible avenues of extending unimodular gravity that preserve the resolution of the cosmological constant problem.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2301.01662,
title = {Unimodular approaches to the cosmological constant problem},
author = {Pavel Jiroušek},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2301.01662},
year = {2023}
}
Comments
Invited review for Universe, Special Issue 'Cosmological Constant' (https://www.mdpi.com/journal/universe/special_issues/cosmological_constant_problem), 22 pages + references