Related papers: Dpes massless QCD have vacuum energy?
Some issues of the cosmological constant or dark energy are briefly reviewed. There are an increasing number of observations that constrain the equation of state of dark energy more stringently and favor the time-independent cosmological…
We analyze a toy model describing an empty spacetime in which the motion of a test mass (and the trajectories of photons) evidence the presence of a continuous and homogeneous distribution of matter; however, since the energy-momentum…
Despite the many efforts, our theoretical understanding of the ultimate nature of the dark energy component of the universe still lags well behind the astounding experimental evidence achieved from the increasingly sophisticated…
We review issues involved in understanding the vacuum, long-distance and low-energy structure of non-Abelian gauge theories and QCD. The emphasis will be on the role played by instantons.
We argue that calculating vacuum energy requires quantum field theory whose axioms are adapted to curved spacetime. In this context, we suggest that non-zero vacuum energy is connected to dynamical breaking of electroweak symmetry. The…
It is commonly agreed that the electromagnetic vacuum is not empty but filled with virtual photons. This leads to effects like Lamb shift and spontaneous emission. Here we argue that if the vacuum has virtual photons it might mean that it…
The quantum null energy condition (QNEC) is a conjectured relation between a null version of quantum field theory energy and derivatives of quantum field theory von Neumann entropy. In some cases, divergences cancel between these two terms…
The highly non-trivial structure of the $\theta$--vacuum encodes many of the fundamental properties of gauge theories. In particular, the response of the vacuum to the $\theta$--term perturbation is sensitive to the existence of…
Given the increasing availability of lattice data for (unquenched) QCD with $N_f=2$, it is worth while to check whether the generated vacuum significantly deviates from the quenched one. I discuss a specific attempt to do this on the basis…
The high-quality cosmological data, which became available in the last decade, have thrusted upon us a rather preposterous composition for the universe which poses one of the greatest challenges theoretical physics has ever faced: the…
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…
We investigate the possibility of negative mass particles and whether physics as we know it today allows or excludes their existence and what properties they might have in the light these laws. We show that nothing prohibit their existence,…
One of the most widespread interpretations of the mass-energy equivalence establishes that not only can mass be transformed into energy (e.g., through nuclear fission, fusion, or annihilation) but that every type of energy also has mass…
It is shown that the canonical quantum field theory of radiation based on the field theoretical generalization of a recently proposed [1] commutation relation between position and momentum operators of massless particles leads to zero…
The metastable dark energy scenario is revisited by assuming that the current false vacuum energy density is the remnant from a primeval inflationary stage. The zero temperature scalar field potential is here described by an even power…
Dark energy and dark matter constitute 95% of the observable Universe. Yet the physical nature of these two phenomena remains a mystery. Einstein suggested a long-forgotten solution: gravitationally repulsive negative masses, which drive…
Detailed analysis shows that the phase of a complex mass term of a quark does not violate CP, while the QCD vacuum angle can naturally be set equal to zero. There is no strong CP problem and no need for axions or similar speculative…
We assume that particles are point-like objects even when not observed. We report on the consequences of our assumption within the realm of quantum theory. An important consequence is the necessity of vacuum fields to account for particle…
The belief still persists, at least for an important part of the community, that in general relativity the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ must remain immaculate. However, Bianchi identities show that $\Lambda$ could acquire local…
The origin of the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe is a major problem of modern cosmology and theoretical physics. Simple estimations of the contribution of vacuum to the density energy of the universe in quantum field…