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Vacuum energy density from the form factor bootstrap

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-03-04 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology Mathematical Physics math.MP

Abstract

The form-factor bootstrap is incomplete until one normalizes the zero-particle form factor. For the stress energy tensor we describe how to obtain the vacuum energy density ρvac\rho_{\rm vac}, defined as 0Tμν0=ρvacgμν\langle 0| T_{\mu\nu} | 0 \rangle = \rho_{\rm vac} \, g_{\mu\nu}, from the form-factor bootstrap. Even for integrable QFT's in D=2 spacetime dimensions, this prescription is new, although it reproduces previously known results obtained in a different and more difficult thermodynamic Bethe ansatz computation. We propose a version of this prescription in D=4 dimensions. For these even dimensions, the vacuum energy density has the universal form ρvacmD/g\rho_{\rm vac} \propto m^D/\mathfrak{g} where g\mathfrak{g} is a dimensionless interaction coupling constant which can be determined from the high energy behavior of the S-matrix. In the limit g0\mathfrak{g} \to 0, ρvac\rho_{\rm vac} diverges due to well understood UV divergences in free quantum field theories. If we assume the the observed Cosmological Constant originates from the vacuum energy density ρvac\rho_{\rm vac} computed as proposed here, then this suggests there must exist a particle which does not obtain its mass from spontaneous symmetry breaking in the electro-weak sector, which we designate as the "zeron". A strong candidate for the zeron is a massive Majorana neutrino.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2407.10692,
  title  = {Vacuum energy density from the form factor bootstrap},
  author = {André LeClair},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2407.10692},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

16 pages, no figures. Version 2: corrected some potentially confusing typos

R2 v1 2026-06-28T17:41:09.055Z