Related papers: Remarks on the Cosmological Constant and the $\lam…
We consider the restoration of a spontaneously broken symmetry of an interacting quantum scalar field around neutral, i.e., Schwarzschild, and electrically charged, i.e., Reissner-Nordstr\"om, black holes in four dimensions. This is done…
Using a recent thermal-field-theory approach to cosmological perturbations, the exact solutions that were found for collisionless ultrarelativistic matter are generalized to include the effects from weak self-interactions in a…
In certain modified gravity theories that include additional scalar degrees of freedom, compact objects such as black holes and neutron stars may undergo a process known as spontaneous scalarization, in which the scalar field is suddenly…
We compute the cosmological constant in a scale invariant scalar field theory. The gravitational action is also suitably modified to respect scale invariance. Due to scale invariance the theory does not admit a cosmological constant term.…
We consider the question which potentials in the action of a (1+1) dimensional scalar field theory allowing for spontaneous symmetry breaking have quantum fluctuations corresponding to reflectionless scattering data. The general problem of…
The presence of a cosmological constant, Lambda, in an action with higher powers of the curvature can produce rapidly oscillating metrics. We develop a perturbative approach for generating periodic solutions to the non-linear field…
Observations indicate that our universe is characterized by a late-time accelerating phase, possibly driven by a cosmological constant $\Lambda$, with the dimensionless parameter $\Lambda L_P^2 \simeq 10^{-122}$, where $L_P = (G \hbar…
A diverse set of observations now compellingly suggest that Universe possesses a nonzero cosmological constant. In the context of quantum-field theory a cosmological constant corresponds to the energy density of the vacuum, and the wanted…
The cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is a free parameter in Einstein's equations of gravity. We propose to fix its value with a boundary condition: test particles should be free when outside causal contact, e.g. at infinity. Under this…
In this lecture at a school for condensed matter physicists, I begin with basic concepts and tools for investigating phase transitions in quantum field theory. The very different roles of global and gauge symmetries in phase transitions…
The effective potential for the local composite operator $\phi^{2}(x)$ in $\lambda \phi^{4}$-theory is investigated at finite temperature in an approach based on path-integral linearisation of the $\phi^4 $-interaction. At zero temperature,…
I propose an observationally and theoretically consistent resolution of the cosmological constant problem: $\Lambda$ is a counterterm -- with a running coupling -- that balances the monopole celestial sky average of the kinetic energy of…
One often hears that the strong $CP$ problem is the one problem which cannot be solved by anthropic reasoning. We argue that this is not so. Due to nonperturbative dynamics, states with a different $CP$ violating paramenter $\theta$ acquire…
The low-energy spectrum of a one-component, spontaneously broken \Phi^4 theory is generally believed to have the same simple massive form \sqrt{{\bf p}^2 + m^2_h} as in the symmetric phase where < \Phi >=0. However, in lattice simulations…
We provide a comprehensive discussion of the Everpresent $\Lambda$ cosmological model arising from fundamental principles in causal set theory and unimodular gravity. In this framework the value of the cosmological constant ($\Lambda$)…
In this paper we extend the Cosmological Constant Seesaw treatment of hep-th/0602112 to String/M-Theory where the cosmological constant is finite. We discuss how transitions between different $\lambda$, one of Planckian vacuum energy, can…
The use in the action integral of totally divergent densities in generally coordinate invariant theories can lead to interesting mechanisms of spontaneous symmetry breaking of scale invariance. With dependence in the action on a metric…
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…
We revisit the problem of spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB), its restoration, and phase transition for a self interacting quantum scalar field in a general curved background, at zero and finite temperature. To the best of our knowledge,…
The consequences of considering the measure of integration in the action to be defined by degrees of freedom independent of the metric are studied. Models without the cosmological constant problem, new ways of spontaneously breaking scale…