Dynamics of the quantum vacuum: Cosmology as relaxation to the equilibrium state

Abstract

The behavior of the gravitating vacuum energy density in an expanding universe is discussed. A scenario is presented with a step-wise relaxation of the vacuum energy density. The vacuum energy density moves from plateau to plateau and follows, on average, the steadily decreasing matter energy density. The current plateau with a small positive value of the vacuum energy density (effective cosmological constant) may result from a still not equilibrated contribution of the light massive neutrinos to the quantum vacuum.

12 pages; contribution to the Proceedings of The Spanish Relativity Meeting (ERE2010); v4: published version but with larger figure and expanded references

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• The cosmological constant: A lesson from the effective gravity of topological Weyl media
• Inflation and the cosmological constant
• Vacuum energy decay from a q-bubble
• The Newton constant and gravitational waves in some vector field adjusting mechanisms
• The existence of smooth solutions in q-theories
• Ultraheavy particles at the LHC or a next-generation collider?