Related papers: Varying physical constants and the lithium problem
The fundamental constants at recombination can differ from their present-day values due to degeneracies in cosmological parameters, raising the possibility of yet-undiscovered physics coupled directly to the Standard Model. We study the…
A short review about vacuum energy and the cosmological constant is presented. The observed acceleration of the universe introduces a new meV energy scale. The problem is that, theoretically, the predicted vacuum energy is many orders of…
The observational evidence for the recent acceleration of the universe demonstrates that canonical theories of cosmology and particle physics are incomplete---if not incorrect---and that new physics is out there, waiting to be discovered. A…
In the standard hot big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) model the primordial abundances of H, H2, He3, He4, and Li7, fix the baryon density of the universe, $\Omega_b$, via the baryon-to-photon ratio, $\eta$, for a given Hubble parameter. Recent…
This Letter proposes a solution of the Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constant (CC) paradox based on the Zel'dovich's ansatz, which states that the observable contribution to the vacuum energy density is given by the gravitational…
A critical review is given of the current status of cosmological nucleosynthesis. In the framework of the Standard Model with 3 types of relativistic neutrinos, the baryon-to-photon ratio, $\eta$, corresponding to the inferred primordial…
The energy density associated with Planck length is $\rho_{uv}\propto L_P^{-4}$ while the energy density associated with the Hubble length is $\rho_{ir}\propto L_H^{-4}$ where $L_H=1/H$. The observed value of the dark energy density is…
There are now evidences that the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ has a non-zero positive value. Alternative scenarios to a pure cosmological constant model are provided by quintessence, an effective negative pressure fluid permeating the…
We consider tensor-vector theories with varying the space-time-matter coupling constant (varying Einstein velocity) in a spatially flat FRW universe. We examine the dynamics of this model by dynamical system method assuming a \Lambda CDM…
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…
Fundamental physical constants need not be constant, neither spatially nor temporally. -- This seeming simple statement has profound implications for a wide range of physical processes and interactions, and can be probed through a number of…
Assuming the best numerical value for the cosmic baryonic density and the existence of three neutrino flavors, standard big bang nucleosynthesis is a parameter-free model. It is important to assess if the observed primordial abundances can…
The high-quality cosmological data, which became available in the last decade, have thrusted upon us a rather preposterous composition for the universe which poses one of the greatest challenges theoretical physics has ever faced: the…
We consider the cosmological implications of light travelling faster in the early Universe. We propose a prescription for deriving corrections to the cosmological evolution equations while the speed of light $c$ is changing. We then show…
Among the suggested solutions to the cosmological constant problem, we find the idea of a dynamic vacuum, with an energy density decaying with the universe expansion. We investigate the possibility of a variation in the gravitational…
We provide preliminary quantitative evidence that a new solution to averaging the observed inhomogeneous structure of matter in the universe [gr-qc/0702082, arxiv:0709.0732], may lead to an observationally viable cosmology without exotic…
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…
We build a minimal extension of General Relativity in which Newton's gravitational coupling, $G$, the speed of light, $c$, and the cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, are spacetime variables. This is done while satisfying the contracted…
Using a simple combinatorial algorithm for generating finite and discrete events as our numerical cosmology, we predict that the baryon/photon ratio at the time of nucleogenesis is $\eta= 1/256^4$, $\Omega_{DM}/\Omega_B= 12.7$ and (for a…
At variance from 2H, 3He and 4He abundances, 7Li abundance data yield an extra constraint to cosmological parameters, in top of those deriving from CMB, BAO, SNIa or H0 data. This constraint, often disregarded, would favor smaller $\Omega_b…