Related papers: Living with Lambda
The existence of a non-zero cosmological constant $\Lambda$ gives rise to controversial interpretations. Is $\Lambda$ a universal constant fixing the geometry of an empty universe, as fundamental as the Planck constant or the speed of light…
I consider the relation of explanations for the observed data to testability in the following contexts: observational and experimental detection of dark matter; observational and experimental detection of dark energy or a cosmological…
I motivate and discuss some recent work on theories with varying constants, and consider some possible observational consequences and tests. Particular emphasis is given to models which can (almost) exactly mimic the predictions of standard…
Under the assumption that the cosmological constant vanishes in the true ground state with lowest possible energy density, we argue that the observed small but finite vacuum-like energy density can be explained if we consider a theory with…
There is a discussion of the temperature anisotropy of the cosmic background radiation and of how the first Doppler peak depends on the different contributions to the vacuum energy density. An analytic calculation agrees well with numerical…
It will be shown that a given realization of nonlinear electrodynamics, used as source of Einstein's equations, generates a cosmological model with interesting features, namely a phase of current cosmic acceleration, and the absence of an…
It is well known that string theories naturally compactify on anti-de Sitter spaces, and yet cosmological observations show no evidence of a negative cosmological constant in the early Universe's evolution. In this letter we present two…
We analyze properties of unstable vacuum states from the point of view of the quantum theory. In the literature one can find some suggestions that some of false (unstable) vacuum states may survive up to times when their survival…
The asymptotic structure of the gravitational field of isolated systems has been analyzed in great detail in the case when the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is zero. The resulting framework lies at the foundation of research in diverse…
We trace the origin of the cosmological constant problem to the assumption that Newton's constant $G$ sets the scale for cosmology. And then we show that once this assumption is relaxed, the very same cosmic acceleration which has served to…
An analysis of null geodesics in Schwarzschild de Sitter space is presented with special attention to their global `bending angles', local measurable angles, and the involvement of the cosmological constant. We make use of a general…
The cosmological constant Lambda affects gravitational lensing phenomena. The contribution of Lambda to the observable angular positions of multiple images and to their amplification and time delay is here computed through a study in the…
We examine the possibility that a significant component of the energy density of the universe has an equation-of-state different from that of matter, radiation or cosmological constant ($\Lambda$). An example is a cosmic scalar field…
We reconsider the virial theorem in the presence of a positive cosmological constant Lambda. Assuming steady state, we derive an inequality of the form rho >= A (Lambda / 4 pi GN) for the mean density rho of the astrophysical object. With a…
We reanalyze the problem of the cosmological constant associated with the phase transition in a self-interacting scalar theory. It is pointed out that the generally accepted ``triviality'' of $(\lambda\Phi^4)_4$ implies a first-order phase…
Based on our previous attempt, we propose a better way to understand a small but nonzero cosmological constant, as indicated by a number of recent observational studies. We re-examine the assumptions of our model of two scalar fields,…
Standard cosmology has long been plagued by a number of persistent problems. The origin of the apparent acceleration of the cosmic expansion remains enigmatic. The cosmological constant has been reintroduced as a free parameter with a value…
It is shown that the cosmological relativity theory prdicts the value Lambda = 1.934 x 10^-35 s^-2 for the cosmological constant. This value of Lambda is in exellent agreement with the measurements recently obtained by the High-Z Supernova…
This paper deals with the cancellation mechanism, which identifies the energy density of space-time expansion in an empty universe with the zero-point energy density and avoids the scale discrepancy with the observed energy density…
In this paper we provide both a diagnosis and resolution of the cosmological constant problem, one in which a large (as opposed to a small) cosmological constant $\Lambda$ can be made compatible with observation. We trace the origin of the…