Related papers: Cosmological Constant and Noncommutativity: A Newt…
In a bid to resolve lingering problems in cosmology, more focus is being tilted towards cosmological models in which physical constants of nature are not necessarily real constants but vary with cosmic time. In this paper, we study a…
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…
We consider that the cosmological constant is associated with the vacuum energy density of a particle physics model. In the path integral formalism of euclidean quantum gravity and in the background of the Robertson Walker metric we…
At the level of the Planck scale, the spacetime metric has to be considered a quantum variable. Conformal quantum fluctuations of the metric tensor are studied here. They lead to an extra term in the Einstein equations which can be…
We argue that, when a theory of gravity and matter is endowed with (classical) conformal symmetry, the fine tuning required to obtain the cosmological constant at its observed value can be significantly reduced. Once tuned, the cosmological…
In quantum field theory the parameters of the vacuum action are subject to renormalization group running. In particular, the ``cosmological constant'' is not a constant in a quantum field theory context, still less should be zero. In this…
We revisit a scenario in which the cosmological constant is cancelled by the potential energy of a slowly evolving scalar field, or "cosmon". The cosmon's evolution is tied to the cosmological constant by a feedback mechanism. This feedback…
We study the consequences of the $f(R/\Box)$ gravity models for the Solar system and the large scale structure of the universe. The spherically symmetric solutions can be used to obtain bounds on the constant and the linear parts of the…
We show that the cosmological constant appears as a Lagrange multiplier if nature is described by a canonical noncommutative spacetime. It is thus an arbitrary parameter unrelated to the action and thus to vacuum fluctuations. The…
For general number of spatial dimensions we investigate the cosmological dynamics driven by a cosmological constant and by a source with barotropic equation of state. It is assumed that for both those sources the energy density can be…
We consider a two-dimensional model of gravity with the cosmological constant as a dynamical variable. The effective cosmological constant is derived when the universe has no initial boundary. It turns out to be extremely small if the…
We consider a dynamical approach to the cosmological constant. There is a scalar field with a potential whose minimum occurs at a generic, but negative, value for the vacuum energy, and it has a non-standard kinetic term whose coefficient…
A spacetime interval connecting two neighbouring points can be measured in different unit systems. For instance, it can be measured in atomic unit defined in terms of fundamental constants existing in quantum theories. It is also possible…
Recently, a new framework for describing the multiverse has been proposed which is based on the principles of quantum mechanics. The framework allows for well-defined predictions, both regarding global properties of the universe and…
We consider a possibility that the cosmological constant may not be a constant, but a free thermodynamical variable. To this end we construct a microscopic model of a spacelike two-sphere just inside of the cosmological horizon of the de…
We study the variation of the gravitational Newton's constant on cosmological scales in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. We focus on the simplest models of scalar-tensor theories with a coupling to the Ricci scalar of the form $F(\sigma)…
It is shown that topological changes in space-time are necessary to make General Relativity compatible with the Newtonian limit and to solve the hierarchy of the fundamental interactions. We detail how topology and topological changes…
Recent astrophysical observations seem to indicate that the cosmological constant is small but nonzero and positive. The old cosmological constant problem asks why it is so small; we must now ask, in addition, why it is nonzero (and is in…
The observational evidence for the existence of a non-zero cosmological constant is getting stronger. It is therefore timely to address the question of its eventual effect on the dynamics of galaxies, clusters and larger structures in the…
We explore possible cosmological consequences of a running Newton's constant $ G ( \Box ) $, as suggested by the non-trivial ultraviolet fixed point scenario in the quantum field-theoretic treatment of Einstein gravity with a cosmological…