Related papers: The Vacuum Frame
These notes present a brief introduction to `naturalness' problems in cosmology, and to the Cosmological Constant Problem in particular. The main focus is the `old' cosmological constant problem, though the more recent variants are also…
It is commonly recognized now that Dark Energy (Lambda-term) is of crucial importance both at the early (inflationary) stage of cosmological evolution and at the present time. However, little is known about its nature and origin till now.…
Quintessence - the energy density of a slowly evolving scalar field - may constitute a dynamical form of the homogeneous dark energy in the universe. We review the basic idea and indicate observational tests which may distinguish…
We use general arguments to examine the energy scales for which a quantum coherent description of gravitating quantum energy units is necessary. The cosmological dark energy density is expected to decouple from the Friedman-Lemaitre energy…
Observations suggest that nearly seventy per cent of the energy density in the universe is unclustered and exerts negative pressure. Theoretical understanding of this component (`dark energy'), which is driving an accelerated expansion of…
Recent measurements suggest our universe has a substantial dark energy component, which is usually interpreted in terms of a cosmological constant. Here we examine how much the form of this dark energy can be modified while still retaining…
After a short history of the $\Lambda$-term it is explained why the (effective) cosmological constant is expected to obtain contributions from short-distance-physics, corresponding to an energy scale of at least 100 GeV. The actual tiny…
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…
It has been argued that the correct, i.e. positive, sign of quantum vacuum energy density, or more properly, negative sign of quantum vacuum pressure, requires not a very large number, e.g. ~100, of additional, undiscovered fundamental…
We present a novel source of dark energy, which is motivated by the prevalence of hidden sectors in string theory models and is consistent with all of the proposed swampland conjectures. Thermal effects hold a light hidden sector scalar at…
We revisit the quantum cosmological constant problem and highlight the important roles played by the dS horizon of zero point energy. We argue that fields which are light enough to have dS horizon of zero point energy comparable to the FLRW…
We have shown that the phenomenological models with a cosmological constant of the type $\Lambda=\beta(\frac{\ddot R}{R})$ and $\Lambda=3\alpha H^2$, where $R$ is the scale factor of the universe and $H$ is the Hubble constant, are…
In order to solve the fine-tuning problem of the cosmological constant, we propose a simple model with the vacuum energy non-minimally coupled to the inflaton field. In this model, the vacuum energy decays to the inflaton during…
In the contemporary Cosmology, dark energy is modeled as a perfect fluid, having a very simple equation of state: pressure is proportional to dark energy density. As an alternative, I propose a more complex equation of state, with pressure…
Standard cosmological equations are written for the Hubble volume, while the real boundary of space-time is the event horizon. Within the unimodular and thermodynamic approaches to gravity, the dark energy term in cosmological equations…
In this article, we review a series of recent theoretical results regarding a conventional approach to the dark energy (DE) concept. This approach is distinguished among others for its simplicity and its physical relevance. By compromising…
Dark energy appears to be the dominant component of the physical Universe, yet there is no persuasive theoretical explanation for its existence or magnitude. The acceleration of the Universe is, along with dark matter, the observed…
The discovery that we live in an accelerating universe changed drastically the paradigm of physics and introduced the concept of \textit{dark energy}. In this work, we present a brief historical description of the main events related to the…
We perform a detailed dynamical analysis of the teleparallel dark energy scenario, which is based on the teleparallel equivalent of General Relativity, in which one adds a canonical scalar field, allowing also for a nonminimal coupling with…
We construct a dark energy model where a scalar field non-minimally coupled to gravity plays the role of the dark component. We compare cosmological consequences of this non-minimal coupling of the scalar field and gravity in the spirit of…