Related papers: Pathologies of dimension-zero scalar fields
The typical scalar field theory has a cosmological constant problem. We propose a generic mechanism by which this problem is avoided at tree level by embedding the theory into a larger theory. The metric and the scalar field coupling…
Anthropic solutions to the cosmological constant problem require seemingly unnatural scalar field potentials with a very small slope or domain walls (branes) with a very small coupling to a four-form field. Here we introduce a class of…
We argue that scale invariance is not anomalous in quantum field theory, provided it is broken cosmologically. We consider a locally scale invariant extension of the Standard Model of particle physics and argue that it fits both the…
We consider the standard model with local scale invariance. The theory shows exact scale invariance of dimensionally regulated action. We show that massless gauge fields, which may be abelian or non-abelian, lead to vanishing contribution…
The energy density of the universe today may be dominated by the vacuum energy of a slowly rolling scalar field. Making a quantum expansion around such a time dependent solution is found to break fundamental symmetries of quantum field…
We look for cosmologies with a scalar field (dark energy without cosmological constant), which mimic the standard $\Lambda CDM$ cosmological model yielding exactly the same large-scale geometry described by the evolution of the Hubble…
We observe that the standard homogeneous cosmologies, those of Minkowski, de Sitter, and anti-de Sitter, which form the matrix for the Robertson--Walker scale factor, live naturally as isolated points inside a larger family of conformally…
A large value of the cosmological constant (CC) is induced in the Standard Model (SM) of Elementary Particle Physics because of Spontaneous Symmetry Breaking. To provide a small value of the observable CC one has to introduce the vacuum…
We outline a new explanation for the primordial density perturbations in cosmology. Dimension zero fields are a minimal addition to the Standard Model of particle physics: if the Higgs doublet is emergent, they cancel the vacuum energy and…
We discuss some of the issues which we encounter when we try to invoke the scalar-tensor theories of gravitation as a theoretical basis of quintessence. One of the advantages of appealing to these theories is that they allow us to implement…
We investigate the possibility of replacing the cosmological constant with gradual condensation of a scalar field produced during the decay of a superheavy dark matter. The advantage of this class of models to the ordinary quintessence is…
We show how the scalar field, a candidate of quintessence, in a proposed model of the scalar-tensor theories of gravity provides a way to understand a small but nonzero cosmological constant as indicated by recent observations. A particular…
We review nonsingular static, spherically symmetric solutions of general relativity with a minimally coupled scalar field $\phi$ as a source. Considered are wormholes and regular black holes without a center, including black universes…
In a series of recent papers Kaloper and Padilla proposed a mechanism to sequester standard model vacuum contributions to the cosmological constant. We study the consequences of embedding their proposal into a fully local quantum theory. In…
In spite of its great phenomenological success, current models of scalar field-driven inflation suffer from important unresolved conceptual issues. New fundamental physics will be required to address these questions. String theory is a…
Cosmological scaling solutions are particularly important in solving the coincidence problem of dark energy. We derive the equations of sub-Hubble linear matter perturbations for a general scalar-field Lagrangian--including quintessence,…
The quantum field theory prediction of the cosmological constant is 120 orders of magnitude higher than the observed value. This is known as the cosmological constant problem. Here, we deal with the cosmological constant as a scalar field…
We consider the possibility of describing the Higgs effect in unified theories without the Higgs potential in the presence of the Einstein gravity with the conformal gravity-scalar coupling under the assumption of homogeneous matter…
We point out several subtleties arising in brane-world scenarios of cosmological constant cancellation. We show that solutions with curvature singularities are inconsistent, unless the contribution to the effective four-dimentional…
The use of Lagrange multipliers in the context of quintessence/phantom scalar fields allows to constrain the behavior of the scalar field, which provides a powerful tool, not only for the reconstruction of cosmological solutions but also…