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Title: Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the CausalEntropic Principle

Abstract

We compute the expected value of the cosmological constant in our universe from the Causal Entropic Principle. Since observers must obey the laws of thermodynamics and causality, it asserts that physical parameters are most likely to be found in the range of values for which the total entropy production within a causally connected region is maximized. Despite the absence of more explicit anthropic criteria, the resulting probability distribution turns out to be in excellent agreement with observation. In particular, we find that dust heated by stars dominates the entropy production, demonstrating the remarkable power of this thermodynamic selection criterion. The alternative approach--weighting by the number of ''observers per baryon''--is less well-defined, requires problematic assumptions about the nature of observers, and yet prefers values larger than present experimental bounds.

Authors:
; ; ;
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
SLAC National Accelerator Lab., Menlo Park, CA (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE
OSTI Identifier:
899842
Report Number(s):
SLAC-PUB-12353
hep-th/0702115; TRN: US200709%%500
DOE Contract Number:  
AC02-76SF00515
Resource Type:
Technical Report
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
71 CLASSICAL AND QUANTUM MECHANICS, GENERAL PHYSICS; CAUSALITY; COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT; DISTRIBUTION; DUSTS; ENTROPY; PROBABILITY; PRODUCTION; STARS; THERMODYNAMICS; UNIVERSE; Theory-HEP,HEPPH, HEPTH

Citation Formats

Bousso, Raphael, Harnik, Roni, Kribs, Graham D, and Perez, Gilad. Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the CausalEntropic Principle. United States: N. p., 2007. Web. doi:10.2172/899842.
Bousso, Raphael, Harnik, Roni, Kribs, Graham D, & Perez, Gilad. Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the CausalEntropic Principle. United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/899842
Bousso, Raphael, Harnik, Roni, Kribs, Graham D, and Perez, Gilad. 2007. "Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the CausalEntropic Principle". United States. https://doi.org/10.2172/899842. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/899842.
@article{osti_899842,
title = {Predicting the Cosmological Constant from the CausalEntropic Principle},
author = {Bousso, Raphael and Harnik, Roni and Kribs, Graham D and Perez, Gilad},
abstractNote = {We compute the expected value of the cosmological constant in our universe from the Causal Entropic Principle. Since observers must obey the laws of thermodynamics and causality, it asserts that physical parameters are most likely to be found in the range of values for which the total entropy production within a causally connected region is maximized. Despite the absence of more explicit anthropic criteria, the resulting probability distribution turns out to be in excellent agreement with observation. In particular, we find that dust heated by stars dominates the entropy production, demonstrating the remarkable power of this thermodynamic selection criterion. The alternative approach--weighting by the number of ''observers per baryon''--is less well-defined, requires problematic assumptions about the nature of observers, and yet prefers values larger than present experimental bounds.},
doi = {10.2172/899842},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/899842}, journal = {},
number = ,
volume = ,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2007},
month = {Tue Feb 20 00:00:00 EST 2007}
}