Related papers: Crack in the cosmological paradigm
Cosmic acceleration is explained quantitatively, as an apparent effect due to gravitational energy differences that arise in the decoupling of bound systems from the global expansion of the universe. "Dark energy" is a misidentification of…
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…
The current standard model of cosmology - the {\ensuremath{\Lambda}}CDM model - is appropriately named after its controversial foreign ingredients: a cosmological constant ({\ensuremath{\Lambda}}) that accounts for the recent accelerated…
An impressive amount of different astrophysical data converges towards the picture of a spatially flat universe undergoing a today phase of accelerated expansion. The nature of the dark energy dominating the energy content of the universe…
The equation of state of the hypothetical dark energy component, which constitutes about two thirds of the critical density of the universe, may be very different from that of a cosmological constant. Employing a phenomenological model, we…
It is generally argued that the present cosmological observations support the accelerating models of the universe, as driven by the cosmological constant or `dark energy'. We argue here that an alternative model of the universe is possible…
We review the current status of cosmological parameters, dark energy and large-scale structure, from a theoretical and observational perspective. We first present the basic cosmological parameters and discuss how they are measured with…
We discuss from the condensed-matter point of view the recent idea that the Poisson fluctuations of cosmological constant about zero could be a source of the observed dark energy. We argue that the thermodynamic fluctuations of Lambda are…
Recent cosmological and astrophysical observations point out that the Universe is in accelerating expansion and filled up with non-luminous matter. In order to explain the observed large scale structures and this accelerating behavior one…
Dark matter represents currently an outstanding problem in both cosmology and particle physics. In this review we discuss the possible explanations for dark matter and the experimental observables which can eventually lead to the discovery…
A model for the cosmological time dependence of weak interactions is discused and some experimental tests suggested.
We consider two problems that have vexed physicists for several decades -- dark matter and the cosmological constant. The problem has been that the former has not been detected while the latter gives a far higher value than detected by…
The cosmic time dependencies of $G$, $\alpha$, $\hbar$ and of Standard Model parameters like the Higgs vev and elementary particle masses are studied in the framework of a new dark energy interpretation. Due to the associated time variation…
Recent observations suggest that a large fraction of the energy density of the universe has negative pressure. One explanation is vacuum energy density; another is quintessence in the form of a scalar field slowly evolving down a potential.…
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 cosmological constant problem is the principal obstacle in the attempt to interpret dark energy as the quantum vacuum energy. We suggest that the obstacle can be removed, i.e. that the cosmological constant problem can be resolved by…
The increasing quality of cosmological data has revealed some tensions that could be signalling the necessity of incorporating new physics into our cosmological model. One particularly intriguing possibility is the existence of elastic…
The discovery ten years ago that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating put in place the last major building block of the present cosmological model, in which the Universe is composed of 4% baryons, 20% dark matter, and 76% dark…
The observed late-time acceleration of the cosmic expansion constitutes a fundamental problem in modern theoretical physics and cosmology. In an attempt to weight the validity of a large number of dark energy models, I use the recent…
While observational cosmology has recently progressed fast, it revealed a serious dilemma called dark energy: an unknown source of exotic energy with negative pressure driving a current accelerating phase of the universe. All attempts so…