Hiding the Cosmological Constant
Abstract
Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large class of general relativistic initial data exhibit expansions, shears, and curvatures that are enormous at small scales, but quickly average to zero macroscopically. Subsequent evolution is more complex, but I argue that quantum fluctuations may preserve these properties. The resulting picture is a version of Wheeler’s “spacetime foam,” in which the cosmological constant produces high curvature at the Planck scale but is nearly invisible at observable scales.
- Publication Date:
- Research Org.:
- Univ. of California, Davis, CA (United States)
- Sponsoring Org.:
- USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
- OSTI Identifier:
- 1566933
- Alternate Identifier(s):
- OSTI ID: 1595536
- Grant/Contract Number:
- FG02-91ER40674
- Resource Type:
- Published Article
- Journal Name:
- Physical Review Letters
- Additional Journal Information:
- Journal Name: Physical Review Letters Journal Volume: 123 Journal Issue: 13; Journal ID: ISSN 0031-9007
- Publisher:
- American Physical Society (APS)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
- Subject:
- 72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; 79 ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; quantum gravity; cosmological constant; spacetime foam
Citation Formats
Carlip, S. Hiding the Cosmological Constant. United States: N. p., 2019.
Web. doi:10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.131302.
Carlip, S. Hiding the Cosmological Constant. United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.131302
Carlip, S. Fri .
"Hiding the Cosmological Constant". United States. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.131302.
@article{osti_1566933,
title = {Hiding the Cosmological Constant},
author = {Carlip, S.},
abstractNote = {Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large class of general relativistic initial data exhibit expansions, shears, and curvatures that are enormous at small scales, but quickly average to zero macroscopically. Subsequent evolution is more complex, but I argue that quantum fluctuations may preserve these properties. The resulting picture is a version of Wheeler’s “spacetime foam,” in which the cosmological constant produces high curvature at the Planck scale but is nearly invisible at observable scales.},
doi = {10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.131302},
journal = {Physical Review Letters},
number = 13,
volume = 123,
place = {United States},
year = {Fri Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2019},
month = {Fri Sep 27 00:00:00 EDT 2019}
}
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https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.131302
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Cited by: 37 works
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