Cosmological Constant, Quantum Measurement, and the Problem of Time

Abstract

Three of the big puzzles of theoretical physics are the following: (i) There is apparently no time evolution in the dynamics of quantum general relativity, because the allowed quantum states must obey the Hamiltonian constraint. (ii) During a quantum measurement, the state of the quantum system randomly collapses from being in a linear superposition of the eigenstates of the measured observable, to just one of the eigenstates, in apparent violation of the predictions of the deterministic, linear Schrödinger equation. (iii) The observed value of the cosmological constant is exceedingly small, compared to its natural value, creating a serious fine-tuning problem. In this essay we propose a novel idea to show how the three problems help solve each other.

5 pages, honorable mention in Gravity Research Foundation essay contest 2015

References in corpus (4)

• Models of Wave-function Collapse, Underlying Theories, and Experimental Tests
• Cosmological Inflation and the Quantum Measurement Problem
• Quantum to Classical Transition of Inflationary Perturbations - Continuous Spontaneous Localization as a Possible Mechanism -
• Classicalization of inflationary perturbations by collapse models in the light of BICEP2

Cited by in corpus (3)

• In search of an observational quantum signature of the primordial perturbations in slow-roll and ultra slow-roll inflation
• Consequences of Godel Theorems on Third Quantized Theories Like String Field Theory and Group Field Theory
• Spontaneous collapse models lead to the emergence of classicality of the Universe