Running vacuum in the Universe: phenomenological status in light of the latest observations, and its impact on the ${\sigma }_8$ and $H_0$ tensions

Abstract

A substantial body of phenomenological and theoretical work over the last few years strengthens the possibility that the vacuum energy density (VED) of the universe is dynamical, and in particular that it adopts the `running vacuum model' (RVM) form, in which the VED evolves mildly as $\delta {\rho }_{\mathrm{vac}}(H)\sim {\nu }_{\mathrm{eff}}{m}_{\mathrm{Pl}}^2\mathcal{O}\left(H^2\right)$, where $H$ is the Hubble rate and ${\nu }_{\mathrm{eff}}$ is a (small) free parameter. This dynamical scenario is grounded on recent studies of quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime and also on string theory. It turns out that what we call the `cosmological constant', $\Lambda$, is no longer a rigid parameter but the nearly sustained value of $8\pi G(H){\rho }_{\mathrm{vac}}(H)$ around (any) given epoch $H(t)$, where $G(H)$ is the gravitational coupling, which can also be very mildly running (logarithmically). Of particular interest is the possibility suggested in past works that such a running may help to cure the cosmological tensions afflicting the $\Lambda$CDM. In the current study, we reanalyze it in full and we find it becomes further buttressed. Using the modern cosmological data, namely a compilation of the latest $SNIa+BAO+$H(z)$+LSS+CMB$ observations, we probe to which extent the RVM provides a quality fit better than the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model, paying particular emphasis on its impact on the ${\sigma }_8$ and $H_0$ tensions. We utilize the Einstein-Boltzmann system solver $CLASS$ and the Monte Carlo sampler $MontePython$ for the statistical analysis, as well as the statistical $DIC$ criterion to compare the running vacuum against the rigid vacuum (${\nu }_{\mathrm{eff}}=0$). We show that with a tiny amount of vacuum dynamics ($|{\nu }_{\mathrm{eff}}|\ll 1$) the global fit can improve significantly with respect to the $\Lambda$CDM and the mentioned tensions may subside to inconspicuous levels.

arXiv comment47 pages, 11 Tables and 4 Figures. Expanded discussion and references added. Version accepted for publication in Universe

References in corpus (133)

• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Dynamics of dark energy
• Five-Year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) Observations: Cosmological Interpretation
• The Cosmological Constant and Dark Energy
• Detection of the Baryon Acoustic Peak in the Large-Scale Correlation Function of SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies
• Modified Gravity and Cosmology
• Cosmological Constant - the Weight of the Vacuum
• A Flat Universe from High-Resolution Maps of the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
• A Comprehensive Measurement of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant with 1 km/s/Mpc Uncertainty from the Hubble Space Telescope and the SH0ES Team
• The Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System (CLASS) II: Approximation schemes
• Cosmological Perturbation Theory in the Synchronous vs. Conformal Newtonian Gauge
• Cosmological Perturbation Theory in the Synchronous and Conformal Newtonian Gauges
• A 3% Solution: Determination of the Hubble Constant with the Hubble Space Telescope and Wide Field Camera 3
• Cosmological Constraints from the SDSS Luminous Red Galaxies
• The Pantheon+ Analysis: Cosmological Constraints
• Constraints on the redshift dependence of the dark energy potential
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
• The Temperature of the Cosmic Microwave Background
• A 6% measurement of the Hubble parameter at $z\sim 0.45$: direct evidence of the epoch of cosmic re-acceleration
• Cosmic Chronometers: Constraining the Equation of State of Dark Energy. I: H(z) Measurements
• Information criteria for astrophysical model selection
• Raising the bar: new constraints on the Hubble parameter with cosmic chronometers at z$\sim$2
• Improved constraints on the expansion rate of the Universe up to z~1.1 from the spectroscopic evolution of cosmic chronometers
• Constraining Cosmological Parameters Based on Relative Galaxy Ages
• The Pantheon+ Analysis: The Full Dataset and Light-Curve Release
• Challenges for $\Lambda$CDM: An update
• The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program. VIII. An Independent Determination of the Hubble Constant Based on the Tip of the Red Giant Branch
• KiDS-1000 Cosmology: Cosmic shear constraints and comparison between two point statistics
• Planck 2018 results. VIII. Gravitational lensing
• Varying constants, Gravitation and Cosmology
• Quintessence: A Review
• A test of the nature of cosmic acceleration using galaxy redshift distortions
• CDM Models with a Smooth Component
• Age-dating Luminous Red Galaxies observed with the Southern African Large Telescope
• Measurements of the Hubble Constant: Tensions in Perspective
• Cosmology Intertwined II: The Hubble Constant Tension
• Evolution of the Scale Factor with a Variable Cosmological Term
• Constraints on the equation of state of dark energy and the Hubble constant from stellar ages and the CMB
• The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: the growth rate of cosmic structure since redshift z=0.9
• Cosmology Intertwined III: $f{\sigma }_8$ and $S_8$
• On the Hubble constant tension in the SNe Ia Pantheon sample
• The Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System (CLASS) IV: Efficient implementation of non-cold relics
• Reconstructing the history of structure formation using redshift distortions
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon acoustic oscillations with Lyman-$\alpha$ forests
• The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: RSD measurement from the power spectrum and bispectrum of the DR12 BOSS galaxies
• The WiggleZ Dark Energy Survey: Improved Distance Measurements to z = 1 with Reconstruction of the Baryonic Acoustic Feature
• The Completed SDSS-IV extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: BAO and RSD measurements from anisotropic clustering analysis of the Quasar Sample in configuration space between redshift 0.8 and 2.2
• Cosmological constant and vacuum energy: old and new ideas
• Indications of a late-time interaction in the dark sector
• A Lower Growth Rate from Recent Redshift Space Distortion Measurements than Expected from Planck
• Setting the Stage for Cosmic Chronometers. II. Impact of Stellar Population Synthesis Models Systematics and Full Covariance Matrix
• Strong-field Gravity Tests with the Double Pulsar
• The scaling evolution of cosmological constant
• Cosmologies with Energy Exchange
• The Subaru FMOS galaxy redshift survey (FastSound). IV. New constraint on gravity theory from redshift space distortions at $z\sim 1.4$
• Galaxy And Mass Assembly (GAMA): improved cosmic growth measurements using multiple tracers of large-scale structure
• Toward a Better Understanding of Cosmic Chronometers: A new measurement of H(z) at z~0.7
• First evidence of running cosmic vacuum: challenging the concordance model
• Can vacuum decay in our Universe?
• Consistent Calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch in the Large Magellanic Cloud on the Hubble Space Telescope Photometric System and a Re-determination of the Hubble Constant
• Running G and Λat low energies from physics at M_X: possible cosmological and astrophysical implications
• The $H_0$ tension in light of vacuum dynamics in the Universe
• Running Hubble Tension and a H0 Diagnostic
• Dark energy: a quantum fossil from the inflationary Universe?
• Decaying Vacuum Energy and Deflationary Cosmology in Open and Closed Universes
• Interpreting Cosmological Vacuum Decay
• Hints of dynamical vacuum energy in the expanding Universe
• Possible signals of vacuum dynamics in the Universe
• Dynamical vacuum energy in the expanding Universe confronted with observations: a dedicated study
• A rapid transition of $G_{\mathrm{eff}}$ at $z_t\simeq 0.01$ as a solution of the Hubble and growth tensions
• Joint analysis of 6dFGS and SDSS peculiar velocities for the growth rate of cosmic structure and tests of gravity
• LXCDM: a cosmon model solution to the cosmological coincidence problem?
• A larger value for $H_0$ by an evolving gravitational constant
• Cosmological constraints on Brans-Dicke theory
• Brans-Dicke gravity with a cosmological constant smoothes out $\Lambda$CDM tensions
• Constraints on the interacting vacuum -- geodesic CDM scenario
• The Parallax of Omega Centauri Measured from Gaia EDR3 and a Direct, Geometric Calibration of the Tip of the Red Giant Branch and the Hubble Constant
• Tests of Gravitational Symmetries with Pulsar Binary J1713+0747
• Comparing Tip of the Red Giant Branch Distance Scales: An Independent Reduction of the Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program and the Value of the Hubble Constant
• Renormalization-group running cosmologies - a scale-setting procedure
• Friedmann cosmology with decaying vacuum density
• Generalizing the running vacuum energy model and comparing with the entropic-force models
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: A 2.7% measurement of Baryon Acoustic Oscillation distance scale at redshift 0.835
• Running vacuum against the $H_0$ and ${\sigma }_8$ tensions
• Low Redshift Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Measurement from the Reconstructed 6-degree Field Galaxy Survey
• The $\bar{\Lambda }CDM$ cosmology: from inflation to dark energy through running $\Lambda$
• The Cosmological Constant Problem and Running Vacuum in the Expanding Universe
• How the huge energy of quantum vacuum gravitates to drive the slow accelerating expansion of the Universe
• Dynamical dark energy versus $\Lambda =$const. in light of observations
• A $w-M$ phantom transition at $z_t<0.1$ as a resolution of the Hubble tension
• Density perturbations for running vacuum: a successful approach to structure formation and to the ${\sigma }_8$-tension
• Cosmological constraints on a decomposed Chaplygin gas
• Can late-time extensions solve the $H_0$ and ${\sigma }_8$ tensions?
• Evidence for suppression of structure growth in the concordance cosmological model
• Cosmologies with a time dependent vacuum
• Hubble tension or a transition of the Cepheid SnIa calibrator parameters?
• Running vacuum in quantum field theory in curved spacetime: renormalizing ${\rho }_{vac}$ without $\sim m^4$ terms
• Dark energy perturbations and cosmic coincidence
• Late-transition vs smooth $H(z)$ deformation models for the resolution of the Hubble crisis
• Vacuum models with a linear and a quadratic term in H: structure formation and number counts analysis
• Dynamical dark energy: scalar fields and running vacuum
• Gravitational and Chiral Anomalies in the Running Vacuum Universe and Matter-Antimatter Asymmetry
• Cosmological discordances II: Hubble constant, Planck and large-scale-structure data sets
• Brans-Dicke cosmology with a $\Lambda$- term: a possible solution to $\Lambda$CDM tensions
• Entropic-force dark energy reconsidered
• The $H_0$ tension: $\Delta G_N$ vs. $\Delta N_{\mathrm{eff}}$
• Can dark energy be expressed as a power series of the Hubble parameter?
• Post-$Planck$ constraints on interacting vacuum energy
• Relaxing the ${\sigma }_8$-tension through running vacuum in the Universe
• Matter Non-conservation in the Universe and Dynamical Dark Energy
• Can scale-dependent cosmology alleviate the $H_0$ tension?
• Cosmological consequences of a possible $\Lambda$-dark matter interaction
• Galaxy and Mass Assembly (GAMA): Redshift Space Distortions from the Clipped Galaxy Field
• The Road to Precision Cosmology
• Stringy-Running-Vacuum-Model Inflation: from primordial Gravitational Waves and stiff Axion Matter to Dynamical Dark Energy
• Quantum Anomalies in String-Inspired Running Vacuum Universe: Inflation and Axion Dark Matter
• Cosmological constant vis-a-vis dynamical vacuum: bold challenging the $\Lambda$CDM
• Equation of state of the running vacuum
• Background history and cosmic perturbations for a general system of self-conserved dynamical dark energy and matter
• The growth rate of cosmic structures in the local Universe with the ALFALFA survey
• The VIMOS Public Extragalactic Redshift Survey (VIPERS): Unbiased clustering estimate with VIPERS slit assignment
• Running vacuum in QFT in FLRW spacetime: The dynamics of ${\rho }_{\mathrm{vac}}(H)$ from the quantized matter fields
• Measuring the sound horizon and absolute magnitude of SNIa by maximizing the consistency between low-redshift data sets
• Vacuum energy and cosmological evolution
• An exploration of an early gravity transition in light of cosmological tensions
• Latest evidence for a late time vacuum -- geodesic CDM interaction
• Fundamental constants and cosmic vacuum: the micro and macro connection
• Running vacuum versus Holographic dark energy: a cosmographic comparison
• Cosmological discordances III: more on measure properties, Large-Scale-Structure constraints, the Hubble constant and Planck
• Constraining constant and tomographic coupled dark energy with low-redshift and high-redshift probes
• Probing a cosmological model with a $\Lambda ={\Lambda }_0+3\beta H^2$ decaying-vacuum

Cited by in corpus (31)

• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• Nonparametric late-time expansion history reconstruction and implications for the Hubble tension in light of recent DESI and type Ia supernovae data
• An overview of what current data can (and cannot yet) say about evolving dark energy
• Negative cosmological constant in the dark energy sector: tests from JWST photometric and spectroscopic observations of high-redshift galaxies
• Multidimensionality of the Hubble tension: the roles of ${\Omega }_m$ and ${\omega }_c$
• Combining pre- and post-recombination new physics to address cosmological tensions: case study with varying electron mass and sign-switching cosmological constant
• Phantom matter: a challenging solution to the cosmological tensions
• Composite Dark Energy and the Cosmological Tensions
• Running vacuum in QFT in FLRW spacetime: The dynamics of ${\rho }_{\mathrm{vac}}(H)$ from the quantized matter fields
• Exploring the Hubble tension with a late time Modified Gravity scenario
• ${\Lambda }_{\mathrm{s}}$CDM cosmology: Alleviating major cosmological tensions by predicting standard neutrino properties
• Stringy Running Vacuum Model and current Tensions in Cosmology
• Anisotropic f(Q) gravity model with bulk viscosity
• Running vacuum in Brans-Dicke theory: a possible cure for the ${\sigma }_8$ and $H_0$ tensions
• Planck-PR4 anisotropy spectra show (better) consistency with General Relativity
• Testing cosmic anisotropy with Pade approximation and Pantheon+ sample
• New cosmological constraints on the evolution of dark matter energy density
• Hints of Neutrino Dark Matter scattering in the CMB? Constraints from the Marginalized and Profile Distributions
• Signature flips in time-varying $\Lambda (t)$ cosmological models with observational data
• Interacting Barrow Holographic Dark Energy in Non-flat Universe
• Beyond $\Lambda$CDM: Exploring a Dynamical Cosmological Constant Framework Consistent with Late-Time Observations
• Impact of Low ell's on Large Scale Structure Anomalies
• Equivalence of Dark Energy Models: A Theoretical and Bayesian Perspective
• Physical scale adiabatic regularization in cosmological spacetimes
• The dynamics of vacuum, gravity and matter: Implications on the fundamental constants
• Thermodynamics of sign-switching dark energy models
• Charged Black Holes from Interacting Vacuum
• Scalar Perturbations in Nonsingular Universes from Interacting Vacuum
• (Pre)-Inflationary Dynamics with Starobinsky Potential in Noncommutative Effective LQC
• The Hubble tension as an effect of the renormalization of fundamental constants and cosmological parameters
• Background dynamics and observational constraints of flat and non-flat $\Lambda (t)$CDM models from $H(z)$ and DESI DR2 BAO measurements