A Quantum-Mechanical Mechanism for Reducing the Cosmological Constant

Abstract

We exhibit a mechanism which dynamically adjusts cosmological constant toward $0^{+}$. The adjustment is quantum-mechanical, discharging cosmological constant in random discrete steps. It renders de Sitter space unstable, and triggers its decay toward Minkowski. Since the instability dynamically stops at $\Lambda =0$, the evolution favors the terminal Minkowski space without a need for anthropics. The mechanism works for any QFT coupled to gravity.

10 pages LaTeX, 2 figures; v2: additional comments, preprint number added

References in corpus (3)

• Sinks in the Landscape, Boltzmann Brains, and the Cosmological Constant Problem
• Hidden Variables of Gravity and Geometry and the Cosmological Constant Problem
• The cosmological constant as a boundary term

Cited by in corpus (4)

• de Sitter Space Decay and Cosmological Constant Relaxation in Unimodular Gravity with Charged Membranes
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Swampland: The Cosmologist's Handbook to the string-theoretical Swampland Programme
• Membrane nucleation rates from holography
• Origin of the Arrow of Time in Quantum Mechanics