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arXiv · 1601.00601

Dynamic cancellation of a cosmological constant and approach to the Minkowski vacuum

F. R. Klinkhamer·G. E. Volovik
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Abstract

The $q$-theory approach to the cosmological constant problem is reconsidered. The new observation is that the effective classical $q$-theory gets modified due to the backreaction of quantum-mechanical particle production by spacetime curvature. Furthermore, a Planck-scale cosmological constant is added to the potential term of the action density, in order to represent the effects from zero-point energies and phase transitions. The resulting dynamical equations of a spatially-flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe are then found to give a steady approach to the Minkowski vacuum, with attractor behavior for a finite domain of initial boundary conditions on the fields. The approach to the Minkowski vacuum is slow and gives rise to an inflation-type increase of the particle horizon.

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F. R. Klinkhamer, G. E. Volovik. 2016-09-03. Dynamic cancellation of a cosmological constant and approach to the Minkowski vacuum. https://doi.org/10.1142/s0217732316501601

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