English

Invariance under complex transformations, and its relevance to the cosmological constant problem

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2009-11-11 v2 High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In this paper we study a new symmetry argument that results in a vacuum state with strictly vanishing vacuum energy. This argument exploits the well-known feature that de Sitter and Anti- de Sitter space are related by analytic continuation. When we drop boundary and hermiticity conditions on quantum fields, we get as many negative as positive energy states, which are related by transformations to complex space. The paper does not directly solve the cosmological constant problem, but explores a new direction that appears worthwhile.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.gr-qc/0602076,
  title  = {Invariance under complex transformations, and its relevance to the cosmological constant problem},
  author = {Gerard 't Hooft and Stefan Nobbenhuis},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:gr-qc/0602076},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

Some clarifications and references added

R2 v1 2026-07-22T12:44:43.350Z