Related papers: Renormalizing the vacuum energy in cosmological sp…
It is well-known that quantum field theory (QFT) induces a huge value of the cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, which is outrageously inconsistent with cosmological observations. We review here some aspects of this fundamental theoretical…
We present a (hopefully) novel calculation of the vacuum energy in expanding FLRW spacetimes based on the renormalization of quantum field theory in non-zero backgrounds. We compute the renormalized effective action up to the $2-$point…
The $\Lambda$-term in Einstein's equations is a fundamental building block of the `concordance' $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology. Even though the model is not free of fundamental problems, they have not been circumvented by any alternative…
The cosmological constant term, $\Lambda$, in Einstein's equations has been for three decades a building block of the concordance or standard $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology. Although the latter is not free of fundamental problems, it…
We re-examine the classic problem of the renormalization of zero-point quantum fluctuations in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background. We discuss a number of issues that arise when regularizing the theory with a momentum-space cutoff, and…
Phenomenological work in the last few years has provided significant support to the idea that the vacuum energy density (VED) is a running quantity with the cosmological evolution and that this running helps to alleviate the cosmological…
We propose that the solution to the cosmological vacuum energy puzzle may come from the infrared sector of the effective theory of gravity, where the impact of the trace anomaly is of upmost relevance. We proceed by introducing two…
The cosmological constant term (CC), $\Lambda$, is a pivotal ingredient in the standard model of cosmology or $\Lambda$CDM, but it is a rigid quantity for the entire cosmic history. This is unnatural and inconsistent. Different theoretical…
Recent studies of quantum field theory in FLRW spacetime suggest that the cause of the speeding up of the universe is the running vacuum (RV). Appropriate renormalization of the energy-momentum tensor shows that the vacuum energy density is…
In the Hamiltonian formulation of General Relativity the energy associated to an asymptotically flat space-time with metric $g_{\mu\nu}$ is related to the Hamiltonian $H_{GR}$ by $E=H_{GR}[g_{\mu\nu}]-H_{\rm GR}[\eta_{\mu\nu}]$, where the…
In linearized quantum gravity, a shift of the average energy-momentum can be compensated by a shift of the average gravitational field. This allows a renormalization scheme that naturally removes the contribution of quantum vacuum…
The cosmological term, $\Lambda$, in Einstein's equations is an essential ingredient of the `concordance' $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology. In this mini-review presentation, we assess the possibility that $\Lambda$ can be a dynamical…
The last decades have witnessed an unprecedented advancement in our knowledge of the large scale universe. In particular, increasingly accurate cosmological observations have allowed us to discover a form of "dark energy", which presently…
This article aims at discussing the cosmological constant problem at a pedagogical but fully technical level. We review how the vacuum energy can be regularized in flat and curved space-time and how it can be understood in terms of Feynman…
Recent studies of QFT in cosmological spacetime indicate that the speeding up of the present universe may not just be associated with a rigid cosmological term but with a running one that evolves with the expansion rate:…
Due to its construction, the nonperturbative renormalization group (RG) evolution of the constant, field-independent term (which is constant with respect to field variations but depends on the RG scale $k$) requires special care within the…
A substantial body of phenomenological and theoretical work over the last few years strengthens the possibility that the vacuum energy density (VED) of the universe is dynamical, and in particular that it adopts the `running vacuum model'…
This essay elucidates recent achievements of the "nongravitating vacuum energy" (NGVE) theory" which has the feature that a shift of the Lagrangian density by a constant does not affect dynamics. In the first order formalism, a constraint…
We study FLRW cosmology, taking into account quantum gravitational corrections in the formalism of the exact renormalization group flow of the effective action for gravity. We calculate the quantum corrected scale factor, energy density,…
The general thermodynamic analysis of the quantum vacuum, which is based on our knowledge of the vacua in condensed-matter systems, is consistent with the Einstein earlier view on the cosmological constant. In the equilibrium Universes the…