Related papers: The Dark Side of a Patchwork Universe
We discuss the problems of dark matter, quantum gravity, and vacuum energy within the context of a theory for which Lorentz invariance is not postulated, but instead emerges as a natural consequence in the physical regimes where it has been…
Recent cosmological observations suggest that nearly seventy per cent of the energy density in the universe is unclustered and has negative pressure. Several conceptual issues related to the modeling of this component (`dark energy'), which…
Recent cosmological and astrophysical observations point out that the Universe is in accelerating expansion and filled up with non-luminous matter. In order to explain the observed large scale structures and this accelerating behavior one…
A central theme in cosmology is the perplexing fact that the Universe is undergoing an accelerating expansion. The latter, one of the most important and challenging current problems in cosmology, represents a new imbalance in the governing…
A six parameter cosmological model, involving a vacuum energy density that is extremely tiny compared to fundamental particle physics scales, describes a large body of increasingly accurate astronomical data. In a first part of this brief…
Observational evidence indicating that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has surprised cosmologists in recent years. Cosmological models have sought to explain this acceleration by incorporating `dark energy', of which the…
In this work we review briefly the origin and history of the cosmological constant and its recent reincarnation in the form of the dark energy component of the universe. We also comment on the fundamental problems associated to its…
Recent cosmological observations strongly suggest that the universe is dominated by an unknown form of energy with negative pressure. Why is this dark energy density of order the critical density today? We propose that the dark energy has…
Dark energy and dark matter are the dominant sources in the evolution of the late universe. They are currently only indirectly detected via their gravitational effects, and there could be a coupling between them without violating…
The stress-energy tensor of the quantum vacuum is studied for the particular case of quantum electrodynamics (QED), that is a fictituous universe where only the electromagnetic and the electron-positron fields exist. The integrals involved…
Recent observations provide strong evidence that the universe is accelerating. This confronts theory with a severe challenge. Explanations of the acceleration within the framework of general relativity are plagued by difficulties. General…
The cosmological constant problem is the principal obstacle in the attempt to interpret dark energy as the quantum vacuum energy. We suggest that the obstacle can be removed, i.e. that the cosmological constant problem can be resolved by…
We review the origins, motivations, and implications for cosmology and black holes, of our proposal that "dark energy" is not a quantum vacuum energy, but rather arises from a Weyl scaling invariant nonderivative component of the…
The observed cosmic acceleration was attributed to an exotic dark energy in the framework of classical general relativity. The dark energy behaves very similar with vacuum energy in quantum mechanics. However, once the quantum effects are…
Below scales of about 100/h Mpc our universe displays a complex inhomogeneous structure dominated by voids, with clusters of galaxies in sheets and filaments. The coincidence that cosmic expansion appears to start accelerating at the epoch…
The presence of dark energy in the Universe is inferred directly and indirectly from a large body of observational evidence. The simplest and most theoretically appealing possibility is the vacuum energy density (cosmological constant).…
It is proposed that dark energy may become dominant over standard matter due to universe expansion (curvature decrease). Two models: non-linear gravity-matter system and modified gravity may provide the effective phantom or effective…
The accelerated expansion of the universe implies the existence of an energy contribution known as dark energy. Associated with the cosmological constant in the standard model of cosmology, the nature of this dark energy is still unknown.…
Dark energy is the candidate that can produce effective negative pressure and make the galaxies and galaxy clusters move away from each other in an accelerated way. The structures of the Universe have evolved from some initial primordial…
General relativity successfully describes space-times at scales that we can observe and probe today, but it cannot be complete as a consequence of singularity theorems. For a long time there have been indications that quantum gravity will…