Hiding the cosmological constant

Abstract

Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large class of general relativistic initial data exhibit expansions, shears, and curvatures that are enormous at small scales, but quickly average to zero macroscopically. Subsequent evolution is more complex, but I argue that quantum fluctuations may preserve these properties. The resulting picture is a version of Wheeler's `spacetime foam,' in which the cosmological constant produces high curvature at the Planck scale but is nearly invisible at observable scales.

9+1 pages; v2: better discussion of evolution,m new references, some rewriting for clarity; v3: even better discussion of evolution, added references, minor editing

References in corpus (7)

• Quantum Gravity at a Lifshitz Point
• A new framework for analyzing the effects of small scale inhomogeneities in cosmology
• Switching internal times and a new perspective on the 'wave function of the universe'
• A cosmic equation of state for the inhomogeneous Universe: can a global far-from-equilibrium state explain Dark Energy?
• Vacuum Fluctuations and the Small Scale Structure of Spacetime
• Gluing Initial Data Sets for General Relativity
• Vacuum fluctuation, micro-cyclic "universes" and the cosmological constant problem

Cited by in corpus (35)

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• Cosmological consequences of a scalar field with oscillating equation of state: A possible solution to the fine-tuning and coincidence problems
• Vacuum fluctuation, micro-cyclic "universes" and the cosmological constant problem
• Background Independent Field Quantization with Sequences of Gravity-Coupled Approximants
• Background Independent Field Quantization with Sequences of Gravity-Coupled Approximants II: Metric Fluctuations
• Reformulation of the Cosmological Constant Problem
• Cosmic expansion with matter creation and bulk viscosity
• Swiss-cheese cosmologies with variable $G$ and $\Lambda$ from the renormalization group
• Renyi Holographic Dark Energy models in Teleparallel gravity
• Dark energy as a large scale quantum gravitational phenomenon
• Stress energy correlator in de Sitter space-time : its conformal masking or growth in connected Friedmann universes
• Midisuperspace foam and the cosmological constant
• Comment on "Hiding the Cosmological Constant"
• Role of a periodic varying deceleration parameter in Particle creation with higher dimensional FLRW Universe
• The cosmological constant from Planckian fluctuations and the averaging procedure
• How the cosmological constant is hidden by Planck scale curvature fluctuations
• Wave optics of quantum gravity for massive particles
• The physical nature of the cosmological constant and the decoherence scale in a renormalization-group approach
• Quantum Mechanics from General Relativity and the Quantum Friedmann Equation
• A comment on "How the cosmological constant is hidden by Planck scale curvature fluctuations''
• Cosmological bounce and the cosmological constant problem
• The role of noise in the early universe
• Tadpole Cosmology: Milne Solution as a Cosmological Constant Hideout
• Quantum fluctuations and semiclassicality in an inflaton-driven evolution
• Reply to Wang and Unruh
• Exact solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation with ordering term in a dark energy scenario
• Does the cosmological constant stay hidden?
• Global dynamics of the Horava-Lifshitz cosmology in the presence of non-zero cosmological constant in a flat space
• Covariant Canonical Quantization
• Global dynamics of the Horava-Lifshitz cosmological model in a non-flat universe with non-zero cosmological constant
• A Quantum Informational Approach to the Problem of Time