Related papers: The cosmological constant problem: a user's guide
Among the various possibilities to probe the theory behind the recent accelerated expansion of the universe, the energy conditions (ECs) are of particular interest, since it is possible to confront and constrain the many models, including…
This paper is a generalization of earlier papers [Nucl. Phys. B 884, 344 (2014) (arXiv:1312.2759) and JHEP 6, 63 (2015) (arXiv:1401.2488)]. We generalize the idea of quantum clock time to quantum spacetime reference frame via physical…
We use our resummed quantum gravity approach to Einstein's general theory of relativity in the context of the Planck scale cosmology formulation of Bonanno and Reuter to estimate the value of the cosmological constant such that…
We consider a dynamical approach to the cosmological constant. There is a scalar field with a potential whose minimum occurs at a generic, but negative, value for the vacuum energy, and it has a non-standard kinetic term whose coefficient…
In this essay, we present a new understanding of the cosmological constant problem, built upon the realization that the vacuum energy density can be expressed in terms of a phase space volume. We introduce a UV-IR regularization which…
The cosmological constant problem arises at the intersection between general relativity and quantum field theory, and is regarded as a fundamental problem in modern physics. In this paper we describe the historical and conceptual origin of…
We compute the cosmological constant in a scale invariant scalar field theory. The gravitational action is also suitably modified to respect scale invariance. Due to scale invariance the theory does not admit a cosmological constant term.…
We consider a static spherically symmetric charged anisotropic fluid source of finite physical radius (\sim 10^{-16} cm) by introducing a scalar variable \Lambda dependent on the radial coordinate r under general relativity. From the…
The evidence for the accelerated expansion of the universe and the time-dependence of the fine-structure constant suggests the existence of at least one scalar field with a mass of order H_0. If such a field exists, then it is generally…
We present a test of the equivalence principle on cosmological scales. This cornerstone of general relativity has been tested with high precision for standard matter, but its validity for the unknown dark matter remains a crucial open…
In addressing the cosmological constant problem, we propose that the discrepancy between the theoretical and observed values can be ascribed to the inherent uncertainty in the spacetime metric. Mach's principle, which posits that mass…
The quantum field theoretic prediction for the vacuum energy density leads to a value for the effective cosmological constant that is incorrect by between 60 to 120 orders of magnitude. We review an old proposal of replacing Einstein's…
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…
The possibility of a modification of special relativity with an invariant energy scale playing the role of a minimum energy is explored. Consistency with the equivalence of different inertial frames is obtained by an appropriate choice of a…
We present a new mechanism for addressing the cosmological constant problem based on global constraints arising from a lapse function in a higher-dimensional gravitational theory. Inspired by Horava-Lifshitz gravity, we consider a 5d…
We study a symmetry, schematically Energy -> - Energy, which suppresses matter contributions to the cosmological constant. The requisite negative energy fluctuations are identified with a "ghost" copy of the Standard Model. Gravity…
The cosmological constant is one of the most pressing problems in modern physics. We address this issue from an emergent gravity standpoint, by using an analogue gravity model. Indeed, the dynamics of the emergent metric in a Bose-Einstein…
Special relativity has been tested at low energy with great accuracy, but these results cannot be extrapolated to the very high-energy region. Introducing a critical distance scale, $a$ , below 10E-25 cm (the wavelength scale of the…
We propose and implement a novel test to assess deviations from well-established concordance $\Lambda$CDM cosmology while inferring dark energy properties. In contrast to the commonly implemented parametric forms of the dark energy…
The idea here is to set the cosmical constant $\lambda$ proportional to the scalar of the stress-energy tensor of the ordinary matter. We investigate the evolution of the scale factor in a cosmological model in which the cosmological…