Related papers: Gravitational Mechanisms to Self-Tune the Cosmolog…
The expansion of the Universe is observed to be accelerating, with the simplest solution being a classical cosmological constant. However, this receives contributions from the quantum vacuum, which are predicted to be many orders of…
A spacetime-independent variable is introduced which characterizes a Lorentz-invariant self-sustained quantum vacuum. For a perfect (Lorentz-invariant) quantum vacuum, the self-tuning of this variable nullifies the effective energy density…
In this paper we show that by considering a slightly modified Horava-Lifshitz gravity one can find self-tuning cosmological scenarios. Since in the proposed model the cosmological constant cancels out, then regardless of its value it cannot…
Self tuning is one of the few methods for dynamically cancelling a large cosmological constant and yet giving an accelerating universe. Its drawback is that it tends to screen all sources of energy density, including matter. We develop a…
The self-tuning brane scenario is an attempt to solve the cosmological constant problem in the context of extra dimensions. Rather than making the vacuum energy small, this approach proceeds by removing the gravitational effect of vacuum…
We investigate gravitational perturbations in a compact six-dimensional self-tuning brane model. We specifically look for analytic solutions to the perturbed Einstein equations that correspond in four-dimensions to massless or approximately…
The cosmological constant is not an absolute constant. The gravitating part of the vacuum energy is adjusted to the energy density of matter and to other types of the perturbations of the vacuum. We discuss how the vacuum energy responds…
After recalling why dynamical adjustment mechanisms represent a particularly attractive possibility for solving the cosmological constant problem, we briefly discuss their intrinsic difficulties as summarized in Weinberg's no-go theorem. We…
We construct effective field theories in which gravity is modified via spontaneous breaking of local Lorentz invariance. This is a gravitational analogue of the Higgs mechanism. These theories possess additional graviton modes and modified…
Recently the global variation of the Planck mass in the General Relativistic Einstein-Hilbert action was proposed as a self-tuning mechanism of the cosmological constant preventing vacuum energy from freely gravitating. We show that this…
We search for self tuning solutions to the Einstein-scalar field equations for the simplest class of `Fab-Four' models with constant potentials. We first review the conditions under which self tuning occurs in a cosmological spacetime, and…
Recently we suggested a reformulation of General Relativity which completely sequesters from gravity {\it all} of the vacuum energy from a protected matter sector, assumed to contain the Standard Model. Here we elaborate further on the…
We propose a phenomenological approach to the cosmological constant problem based on generally covariant non-local and acausal modifications of four-dimensional gravity at enormous distances. The effective Newton constant becomes very small…
In hep-th/0506040 we discussed a classically constrained model of gravity. This theory contains known solutions of General Relativity (GR), and admits solutions that are absent in GR. Here we study cosmological implications of some of these…
We study global scale invariance along with the unimodular gravity in the vacuum. The global scale invariant gravitational action which follows the unimodular general coordinate transformations is considered without invoking any scalar…
We consider general curvature-invariant modifications of the Einstein-Hilbert action that become important only in regions of extremely low space-time curvature. We investigate the far future evolution of the universe in such models,…
These lectures on the cosmological constant problem were prepared for the X Mexican School on Gravitation and Mathematical Physics. The problem itself is explained in detail, emphasising the importance of radiative instability and the need…
For Einstein's General Relativity (GR) or the alternatives suggested up to date the vacuum energy gravitates. We present a model where a new measure is introduced for integration of the total action in the D-dimensional space-time. This…
We propose several covariant models which may solve one of the problems in the cosmological constant. One of the model can be regarded as an extension of sequestering model. Other models could be regarded as extensions of the covariant…
We introduce a new brane-world model in which the bulk solution consists of outgoing plane waves. This is an exact solution to string theory with no naked singularities. The recently discussed self-tuning mechanism to cancel the…