Related papers: A Cosmological Constant from Gauge Field Instanton…
After a short history of the $\Lambda$-term it is explained why the (effective) cosmological constant is expected to obtain contributions from short-distance-physics, corresponding to an energy scale of at least 100 GeV. The actual tiny…
It is well known that the covariant coupling of fermionic matter to gravity induces a four-fermion interaction. The presence of this term in a homogenous and isotropic space-time results in a BCS-like Hamiltonian and the formation of a…
The quantum gravitational contribution to the renormalization group behavior of the electric charge in Einstein-Maxwell theory with a cosmological constant is considered. Quantum gravity is shown to lead to a contribution to the running…
We discuss the mechanism by which the field vacuum energy varies as a result of strong self-interaction. We propose a non-perturbative approach to treat strong interactions and discuss the problem in terms of quasi-particles describing the…
The cosmological constant problem can be understood as the failure of the decoupling principle behind effective field theory, so that some quantities in the low-energy theory are extremely sensitive to the high-energy properties. While this…
It is well known that global symmetries protect local supersymmetry and a zero value for the cosmological constant in no--scale supergravity. A particular breakdown of these symmetries, which ensures the vanishing of the vacuum energy…
Recently, a new mechanism to generate a naturally small electroweak scale has been proposed. It exploits the coupling of the Higgs to an axion-like field and a long era in the early universe where the axion unchains a dynamical screening of…
A finite and unitary nonlocal formulation of quantum gravity is applied to the cosmological constant problem. The entire functions in momentum space at the graviton-standard model particle loop vertices generate an exponential suppression…
The principles of General Relativity allow for a non-vanishing cosmological constant, which can possibly be interpreted at least partially in terms of quantum-fluctuations of matter fields. Depending on sign and magnitude it can cause…
Within thermodynamic models of gravity, where the universe is considered as a finite ensemble of quantum particles, cosmological constant in the Einstein's equations appears as a constant of integration. Then it can be bounded using…
The equations of motion for matter fields are invariant under the shift of the matter lagrangian by a constant. Such a shift changes the energy momentum tensor of matter by T^a_b --> T^a_b +\rho \delta^a_b. In the conventional approach,…
A value of the cosmological constant in a toy model of the five-dimensional universe is calculated in such a manner that it remains in agreement with both astronomical observations and the quantum field theory concerning the zero-point…
The cosmological evolution of free massless vector or tensor (but not gauge) fields minimally coupled to gravity is analyzed. It is shown that there are some unstable solutions for these fields in De Sitter background. The back reaction of…
The cosmological constant problem is explained by a theory based on the discrete space-time hypothesis. The calculated cosmological constant value is of the order of 10^-52[m]^-2 or equivalent to about 0.7 of the critical mass density. It…
We examine the general issue of whether a scale dependent cosmological constant can be consistent with general covariance, a problem that arises naturally in the treatment of quantum gravitation where coupling constants generally run as a…
A new cosmological model leads to testable predictions that are different from those of both standard cosmology and models with a cosmological constant. The prediction that q_0=0 is the same as in other ``coasting universe'' models, but…
Whereas the total energy in zero-point fluctuations of the particle physics vacuum gives rise to the cosmological constant problem, differences in the vacuum give rise to real physical phenomena, such as the Casimir effect. Hence we…
In this paper we discuss a model in which the energy density, corresponding to the effective cosmological constant, after the $SU(2)\times U(1)$ symmetry breaking appears to be of the desired order of $10^{-48}\div 10^{-47} GeV^{4}$. The…
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 address the question how to adapt cosmological constant $\Lambda$ for description of a vacuum dark energy density jumping from the big initial value to the small today value suggested by observations. We find such a possibility in the…