Related papers: A small weak scale from a small cosmological const…
We examine Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models in three spacetime dimensions. The matter content of the models is composed of a perfect fluid, with a $\gamma$-law equation of state, and a homogeneous scalar field minimally coupled to gravity…
The breaking of the electroweak symmetry, and origin of the associated ``weak scale,'' may be due to a new strong interaction. Theoretical developments over the past decade have led to viable models and mechanisms that are consistent with…
Very recently, it was pointed out that when basic ideas of the Swampland program are combined with the cosmological hierarchy problem (i.e. the smallness of the dark energy in Planck units) and together are confronted to experiment lead to…
We present a broad and simple class of scalar-tensor scenarios that successfully realize dynamical damping of the effective cosmological constant, therefore providing a viable dynamical solution to the fine-tuning or "old" cosmological…
In a quest to explain the small value of the today's cosmological constant, following the approach introduced in [1], we show that the theoretical value of cosmological constant is consistent with its observational value. In more detail, we…
We observe that the standard homogeneous cosmologies, those of Minkowski, de Sitter, and anti-de Sitter, which form the matrix for the Robertson--Walker scale factor, live naturally as isolated points inside a larger family of conformally…
In this thesis the cosmological constant is investigated from two points of view. First, we study the influence of a time-dependent cosmological constant on the late-time expansion of the universe. Thereby, we consider several combinations…
We study classically scale invariant models in which the Standard Model Higgs mass term is replaced in the Lagrangian by a Higgs portal coupling to a complex scalar field of a dark sector. We focus on models that are weakly coupled with the…
We study theories which naturally select a vacuum with parametrically small Electroweak Scale due to finite temperature effects in the early universe. In particular, there is a scalar with an approximate shift symmetry broken by a…
The effect of gravitational fluctuations on the quantum effective potential for scalar fields is a key ingredient for predictions of the mass of the Higgs boson, understanding the gauge hierarchy problem and a possible explanation of…
We present "Custodial Naturalness" as a new mechanism to explain the separation between the electroweak (EW) scale and the scale of potential ultraviolet completions of the Standard Model (SM). We assume classical scale invariance as well…
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…
We present a new unification of the electro-weak and gravitational interactions based on the joining the weak SU(2) gauge fields with the left handed part of the space-time connection, into a single gauge field valued in the…
In this article the cosmological constant problems, as well as the astronomical evidence for a cosmologically significant homogeneous exotic energy density with negative pressure (quintessence), are reviewed for a broad audience of…
A mechanism for suppressing the cosmological constant is described, using a superconducting analogy in which fermions coupled to gravitons are in an unstable false vauum. The coupling of the fermions to gravitons and a screened attractive…
The standard model of elementary particles (SM), despite experimental completion at the LHC, needs to be extended for various physical reasons, including the cold dark matter (DM). Each extension comes with its scale and mechanism, and…
We examine the late-time (nucleosynthesis and later) cosmological implications of brane-world scenarios having large (millimeter sized) extra dimensions. In particular, recent proposals for understanding why the extra dimensions are so…
The role that the auxiliary scalar field $\phi$ played in Brans-Dicke cosmology is discussed. If a constant vacuum energy is assumed to be the origin of dark energy, then the corresponding density parameter would be a quantity varying with…
Accelerating universe or the existence of a small and positive cosmological constant is probably the most pressing obstacle as well as opportunity to significantly improving the models of four-dimensional cosmology from fundamental theories…
Why are the cosmological constant, electroweak and Planck scales so different? This ``double hierarchy" problem, where $\Lambda \ll M^2_{EW} \ll M^2_p$, is one of the most pressing in fundamental physics. We show that in a theory of $N$…