Related papers: Strong Coupling and the Cosmological Constant
Singularity-free cosmological solutions may be obtained from the string action at tree level if the dimension of the space-time is greater than 10 and if brane configurations are taken into account. The behaviour of the dilaton field in…
The static, apparently cylindrically symmetric vacuum solution of Linet and Tian for the case of a positive cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is shown to have toroidal symmetry and, besides $\Lambda$, to include three arbitrary parameters. It…
The properties of a string-inspired two-dimensional theory of gravity are studied. The post-Newtonian and weak-field approximations, `stellar' structure and cosmological solutions of this theory are developed. Some qualitative similarities…
We study cosmological perturbations around self-accelerating solutions to two extensions of nonlinear massive gravity: the quasi-dilaton theory and the mass-varying theory. We examine stability of the cosmological solutions, and the extent…
We discuss the Freund-Rubin compactification with cosmological constant and the dilaton field, and examine the stability of the spacetimes at the low energy. The Minkowski or de Sitter spacetime can be obtained if the dilation field is…
The product of two empirical constants, the dimensionless fine structure constant and the von Klitzing constant (an electrical resistance), turns out to be an exact dimensionless number. Then the accuracy and cosmological time variation (if…
We discuss a numerical relation between the cosmological constant and the vacuum energy arising from the Casimir effect in extra dimensions
We consider a late-time cosmological model based on a recent proposal that the infinite-bare-coupling limit of superstring/M-theory exists and has good phenomenological properties, including a vanishing cosmological constant, and a…
The weakly coupled vacuum of $E_8\otimes E_8$ heterotic string theory remains an attractive scenario for phenomenolgy and cosmology. The particle spectrum is reviewed and the issues of gauge coupling unification, dilaton stabilization and…
We show that for a string moving in a background consisting of maximally symmetric gravity, dilaton field and second rank antisymmetric tensor field, the $O(d) \otimes O(d)$ transformation on the vacuum solutions gives inequivalent…
The standard model of elementary particle physics and the theory of general relativity can be extended by the introduction of a vacuum variable which is responsible for the near vanishing of the present cosmological constant (vacuum energy…
The cosmological constant problem is a failure of naturalness and suggests that a fine-tuning mechanism is at work, which may also address the hierarchy problem. An example -- supported by Weinberg's successful prediction of the…
The heterotic string theory, compactified to four dimensions, has been conjectured to have a duality symmetry (S duality) that transforms the dilaton nonlinearly. If valid, this symmetry could provide an important means of obtaining…
We argue that the cosmological constant problem can be solved in a braneworld model with infinite-volume extra dimensions, avoiding no-go arguments applicable to theories that are four-dimensional in the infrared. Gravity on the brane…
The accelerating expansion of the Universe points to a small positive vacuum energy density and negative vacuum pressure. A strong candidate is the cosmological constant in Einstein's equations of General Relativity. The vacuum dark energy…
This is a review of the physics and cosmology of the cosmological constant. Focusing on recent developments, I present a pedagogical overview of cosmology in the presence of a cosmological constant, observational constraints on its…
The value of the cosmological constant arising from a crystalline model for vacuum cosmic space with lattice parameter of the order of the neutron radius [1] has been calculated. The model allows to solve, in an easy way, the problem of the…
If quantum fields exist in extra compact dimensions, they will give rise to a quantum vacuum or Casimir energy. That vacuum energy will manifest itself as a cosmological constant. The fact that supernova and cosmic microwave background data…
If quantum fields exist in extra compact dimensions, they will give rise to a quantum vacuum or Casimir energy. That vacuum energy will manifest itself as a cosmological constant. The fact that supernova and cosmic microwave background data…
We start with a brief account of the latest analysis of the Oklo phenomenon providing the still most stringent constraint on time-variability of the fine- structure constant $\alpha$. Comparing this with the recent result from the…