Dark energy, chaotic fields, and fundamental constants

Abstract

To explain the currently observed accelerated expansion of the universe, a large number of different theoretical models are presently being discussed. In one way or another, all of these contain `new physics', though at different levels. The big question is how to select out of infinitely many possible models the right one. Here we discuss a possibility that has so far been somewhat neglected, namely that the new physics underlying dark energy arises out of a gravitationally active amendment of the electroweak and strong sector of the standard model. This amendment basically consists of a rapidly fluctuating gravitationally active dynamics of vacuum fluctuations with a cutoff of the order of the neutrino mass scale. We consider a concrete model for this based on second-quantized self-interacting scalar fields, which evolve in a chaotic way. It is shown that expectations with respect to the chaotic dynamics yield statements on the observed numerical values of the electroweak coupling constants with amazing precision, thus providing evidence for the physical relevance of this model.