Related papers: The Vacuum and the Cosmological Constant Problem
In this paper we study a new symmetry argument that results in a vacuum state with strictly vanishing vacuum energy. This argument exploits the well-known feature that de Sitter and Anti- de Sitter space are related by analytic…
Deconstruction provides a novel way of dealing with the notoriously difficult ultraviolet problems of four-dimensional gravity. This approach also naturally leads to a new perspective on the holographic principle, tying it to the…
We advance the viewpoint that only relevant modes of the vacuum fluctuations, namely, with wavelengths conditioned by the size, homogeneity, geometry and topology of the Universe, do contribute into the cosmological constant. A formula is…
Hawking proposed that the cosmological constant is probably zero in quantum cosmology. Duff claimed that Hawking's proof is invalidated. Using the right configuration for the wave function of the universe, we provide a complete proof.
Recent astrophysical observations seem to indicate that the cosmological constant is small but nonzero and positive. The old cosmological constant problem asks why it is so small; we must now ask, in addition, why it is nonzero (and is in…
Einstein-Hilbert action is supplemented by Gauss-Bonnet squared term, its phase-space structure is constructed and canonical quantization is performed. Resolution of a contradiction that emerges in the process, requires the presence of…
We consider a recent proposal to solve the cosmological constant problem within the context of brane world scenarios with infinite volume extra dimensions. In such theories bulk can be supersymmetric even if brane supersymmetry is…
The incorporation of a small cosmological constant within radiatively-broken scale-invariant models is discussed. We show that phenomenologically consistent scale-invariant models can be constructed which allow a small positive cosmological…
The origins of the cosmological constant are discussed from the perspective of the imaginary-time field theory. The concept of the thermal time, which is related to the Tolman-Ehrehfest relation, and the conformal invariance of the actions…
We introduce a dynamical model to reduce a large cosmological constant to a sufficiently small value. The basic ingredient in this model is a distinction which has been made between the two unit systems used in cosmology and particle…
If the fine structure constant $\alpha =e^2/(\hbar c)$ were to change, then a number of interpretations would be possible, attributing this change either to variations in the electron charge, the dielectric constant of the vacuum, the speed…
The value of the cosmological constant arising from a crystalline model for vacuum cosmic space with lattice parameter of the order of the neutron radius [1] has been calculated. The model allows to solve, in an easy way, the problem of the…
I discuss empty space, as it appears in the physical foundations of relativistic field theories and in the semiclassical study of isolated systems. Of particular interest is the relationship between empirical measurements of the…
The covariant gauge invariant perturbation theory of scalar cosmological perturbations is developed for a general Scalar-Tensor Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker cosmology in a vacuum. The perturbation equations are then solved exactly in…
It is suggested that the true ground state of the world has exactly vanishing vacuum energy and that the cosmological constant that seems to have been observed is due to our region of the universe being stuck in a false vacuum, whose energy…
There is some evidence that the Universe is presently undergoing accelerating expansion. This has restored some credit to the scenarios with a non-vanishing cosmological constant. From the point of view of a theory of fundamental…
A general no-go theorem dampens hope that the cosmological constant problem can be solved by a local symmetry mechanism. The possibility is considered here that this no-go theorem can be avoided by a pseudo-symmetry. A simple macroscopic…
The source of the acceleration of the expansion of the Universe is still unknown. We examine some consequences of the possible scale invariance of the empty space at large scales. The central hypothesis of this work is that, at macroscopic…
The trace anomaly and the cosmological constant problem are two typical breakdowns when applying the quantum principle to a general covariant or gravitational system. A quantum theory of spacetime reference frame is proposed and reviewed.…
With the basic cosmological relations that agree with the recent observations, simple expressions are suggested concerning the value of cosmological constant($\Lambda$). A large contribution of quantum vacuum to the energy momentum tensor…