Related papers: The Universe in a Soap Film
If the observed dark energy is a cosmological constant, the canonical state of the universe is de Sitter spacetime. In such a spacetime, quantum fluctuations that violate the null energy condition will create islands of matter that, if…
Quantum theory, general relativity, the standard model of particle physics, and the $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology have all been spectacularly successful within their respective regimes of applicability, but many central problems remain…
Within present constraints on the observed smooth energy and its equation of state parameter, it is important to find out whether the smooth energy is static (cosmological constant) or dynamic (quintessence). The most dynamical quintessence…
Due to quantum fluctuations, spacetime is foamy on small scales. For maximum spatial resolution of the geometry of spacetime, the holographic model of spacetime foam stipulates that the uncertainty or fluctuation of distance $l$ is given,…
We show that the cosmological constant appears as a Lagrange multiplier if nature is described by a canonical noncommutative spacetime. It is thus an arbitrary parameter unrelated to the action and thus to vacuum fluctuations. The…
For several independent reasons, the idea that notorious sources of entropy could exist in the Universe has been recently revived. Taking advantage of a new framework accounting for non-equilibrium processes in cosmology, we explicitly…
Most of the calculations done to obtain the value of the cosmological constant use methods of quantum gravity, a theory that has not been established as yet, and a variety of results are usually obtained. The numerical value of the…
The cosmological constant presents one of the most fascinating and confounding problems in physics. A straightforward, seemingly robust prediction of quantum mechanics and general relativity is that the vacuum energy gravitates. Therefore,…
On the occasion of a century from the proposal of General relativity by Einstein, I attempt to tackle some open issues in modern cosmology, via a toy but non-trivial model. Specifically, I would like to link together: (i) the smallness of…
Here, cosmology is obtained from the variable gravitational constant $ G \propto \phi^{-2}$ with $ \phi(x) $ being a scalar and its fluctuations around the ground state. The gravitational action contains Einstein-Hilbert like term with…
In this paper the results obtained by Minic and his colleagues on the uncertainty relation of the pair "cosmological constant - volume of space-time", where cosmological constant is a dynamical quantity, are reconsidered and generalized…
It is necessary to make assumptions in order to derive models to be used for cosmological predictions and comparison with observational data. In particular, in standard cosmology the spatial curvature is assumed to be constant and zero (or…
Zero point fluctuations of quantum fields should generate a large cosmological constant energy density in any spacetime. How then can we have anything other than de Sitter space without fine tuning? Well tempering -- dynamical cancellation…
One way that an anthropic selection mechanism may be manifest in a physical theory involves multiple domains in the universe with different values of the physical parameters. If this mechanism is to be relevant for understanding the small…
The large scale distribution of galaxies in the universe displays a complex pattern of clusters, super-clusters, filaments and voids with sizes limited only by the boundaries of the available samples. A quantitative statistical…
In theories in which the cosmological constant Lambda takes a variety of values in different ``subuniverses,'' the probability distribution of its observed values is conditioned by the requirement that there must be someone to measure it.…
The cosmological constant problem is usually considered an inevitable feature of any effective theory capturing well-tested gravitational and matter physics, without regard to the details of short-distance gravitational couplings. In this…
Normalizing the Einstein-Hilbert action by the volume functional makes the theory invariant under constant shifts in the Lagrangian. The associated field equations then resemble unimodular gravity whose otherwise arbitrary cosmological…
The cosmological constant problem is a fundamental issue that has puzzled researchers in the fields of theoretical physics and cosmology for a long time. It arises from the discrepancy between the observed value of the cosmological constant…
The discovery that the cosmic expansion is accelerating has been followed by an intense theoretical and experimental response in physics and astronomy. The discovery implies that our most basic notions about how gravity work are violated on…