Related papers: Is the vacuum stable?
We discuss phenomenology of quantum vacuum. Phenomenology of macroscopic systems has three sources: thermodynamics, topology and symmetry. Thermodynamics of the self-sustained vacuum allows us to treat the problems related to the vacuum…
We show using covariant techniques that the Einstein static universe containing a perfect fluid is always neutrally stable against small inhomogeneous vector and tensor perturbations and neutrally stable against adiabatic scalar density…
I argue that a solution to the cosmological constant problem is to assume that the expectation value of the quantum vacuum stress-energy tensor is proportional to the metric tensor with a negative energy density and positive pressure. This…
We discuss new ideas that the Standard Model might be emergent with connection to electroweak vacuum stability and related consequences for cosmology. In this scenario, the gauge symmetries and particles of the Standard Model would be…
Theories of the cosmological constant fall into two classes, those in which the vacuum energy is fixed by the fundamental theory and those in which it is adjustable in some way. For each class we discuss key challenges. The string theory…
As evidenced by a great number of works, it is common practice to assume that the Universe is flat. However, the majority of studies which make use of observational data to constrain the curvature density parameter are premised on the…
The presence of dark energy in the Universe is inferred directly and indirectly from a large body of observational evidence. The simplest and most theoretically appealing possibility is the vacuum energy density (cosmological constant).…
A model that gives rise to vacuum bubbles is considered where the domain wall field interacts with another real scalar field, resulting in the formation of domain ribbons within the host domain wall. Ribbon-antiribbon annihilations produce…
Quantum field theory is constructed upon the assumption of stabilities of the vacuum and of the one-particle state. For finite temperature, the one-particle state becomes unstable because of thermal fluctuations, whereas the thermal vacuum…
Recent observations of Type 1a supernovae indicating an accelerating universe have once more drawn attention to the possible existence, at the present epoch, of a small positive Lambda-term (cosmological constant). In this paper we review…
The thermodynamic equilibrium conditions for compact structures composed by mass varying particles are discussed assuming that the so-called dynamical mass behaves like an additional extensive thermodynamic degree of freedom. It then…
An artificial scale of observable cosmological constant is dynamically related to its natural bare value due to an installation of relevant coherent state for the inflationary field in a finite volume of early Universe, because of…
Following a short discussion of some unresolved issues in the standard model of cosmology (considered to be a generic LCDM model with flat geometry and an early period of inflation), an update on the current state of research regarding the…
We consider conditions for existence and stability of a static cosmological solution in quadratic gravity. It appears that such a solution for a Universe filled by only one type of perfect fluid is possible in a wide range of the equation…
The cosmological constant problem represents an evident tension between our present description of gravity and particle physics. Many solutions have been proposed, but experimental tests are always difficult or impossible to perform and…
The idea of the quantum state of the Universe described by some density matrix, i.e mixture of at least two vacua, the trivial symmetric and the nontrivial one with spontaneously broken symmetry is discussed. Nonzero cosmological constant…
The cosmological constant problem arises at the intersection between general relativity and quantum field theory, and is regarded as a fundamental problem in modern physics. In this paper we describe the historical and conceptual origin of…
I have calculated the exponential suppression factor in the decay rate of the false vacuum (per unit volume) for a real scalar field at finite temperature, in the presence of gravity, in the thin-wall approximation. Temperatures are assumed…
A type of scenario is considered where electrically charged vacuum bubbles, formed from degenerate or nearly degenerate vacuua separated by a thin domain wall, are cosmologically produced due to the breaking of a discrete symmetry, with the…
It may be difficult to single out the best model of dark energy on the basis of the existing and planned cosmological observations, because many different models can lead to similar observational consequences. However, each particular model…