Related papers: A Renormalization Group Approach to the Cosmologic…
After a short history of the $\Lambda$-term it is explained why the (effective) cosmological constant is expected to obtain contributions from short-distance-physics, corresponding to an energy scale of at least 100 GeV. The actual tiny…
This Letter develops a method to constrain the Cosmological Constant $\Lambda$ from binary galaxies, focusing on the Milky Way and Andromeda. We provide an analytical solution to the two-body problem with $\Lambda$ and show that the ratio…
We propose an approach to explaining why naive large quantum fluctuations are not the right estimate for the cosmological constant. We argue that the universe is in a superposition of many vacua, in such a way that the resulting…
A mechanism for suppressing the cosmological constant is developed, based on an analogy with a superconducting phaseshift in which free fermions coupled perturbatively to a weak gravitational field are in an unstable false vacuum state. The…
In this work we suggest a simple model of the cosmological constant as the coefficient of the quantum tunneling of vacuum fluctuations (with wave length larger than Planck length) at tiny, boundary spherical shell of the universe (with…
Everpresent $\Lambda$ is a cosmological scenario in which the observed cosmological "constant" $\Lambda$ fluctuates between positive and negative values with a vanishing mean, and with a magnitude comparable to the critical density at any…
We discuss the cosmological constant problem, at the minisuperspace level, within the framework of the so-called normalized general relativity (NGR). We prove that the Universe cannot be closed, and reassure that the accompanying…
A long-standing problem of theoretical physics is the exceptionally small value of the cosmological constant $\Lambda \sim 10^{-120}$ measured in natural Planckian units. Here we derive this tiny number from a toroidal string cosmology…
The mystery of the cosmological constant is probably the most pressing obstacle to significantly improving the models of elementary particle physics derived from string theory. The problem arises because in the standard framework of low…
We discuss minisuperspace models within the framework of varying physical constants theories including $\Lambda$-term. In particular, we consider the varying speed of light (VSL) theory and varying gravitational constant theory (VG) using…
Faced by recent evidence for a flat universe dominated by dark energy, cosmologists grapple with deep cosmic enigmas such as the cosmological constant problem, extreme fine-tuning and the cosmic coincidence problem. The extent to which we…
The Cosmological Constant Problem emerges when Quantum Field Theory is applied to the gravitational theory, due to the enormous magnitude of the induced energy of the vacuum. The unique known solution of this problem involves an extremely…
We employ the techniques of the Functional Renormalization Group in string theory, in order to derive an effective mini-superspace action for cosmological backgrounds to all orders in the string scale $\alpha'$. To this end, T-duality plays…
False-vacuum eternal inflation can be described as a random walk on the network of vacua of the string landscape. In this paper we show that the problem can be mapped naturally to a problem of directed percolation. The mapping relies on two…
A variety of observations indicate that the universe is dominated by dark energy with negative pressure, one possibility for which is a cosmological constant. If the dark energy is a cosmological constant, a fundamental question is: Why has…
In this colloquium-level account, I describe the cosmological constant problem: why is the energy of empty space at least 60 orders of magnitude smaller than several known contributions to it from the Standard Model of particle physics? I…
The cosmological constant term, $\Lambda$, in Einstein's equations has been for three decades a building block of the concordance or standard $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology. Although the latter is not free of fundamental problems, it…
In the landscape perspective, our Universe begins with a quantum tunneling from an eternally-inflating parent vacuum, followed by a period of slow-roll inflation. We investigate the tunneling process and calculate the probability…
We present an approach to the problem of vacuum energy in cosmology, based on dynamical screening of Lambda on the horizon scale. We review first the physical basis of vacuum energy as a phenomenon connected with macroscopic boundary…
We present a class of scalar field cosmologies with a dynamically evolving Newton parameter $G$ and cosmological term $\Lambda$. In particular, we discuss a class of solutions which are consistent with a renormalization group scaling for…