The vacuum energy crisis

Abstract

The smallness of the vacuum energy density and its near coincidence with the average matter density of the universe are naturally explained by anthropic selection. An alternative explanation, based on the cyclic model of Steinhardt and Turok, does not address the coincidence problem and is therefore less convincing. This article appeared in ``Science'' (4 May 2006) as a ``perspective'' for Steinhardt and Turok's paper in the same issue (astro-ph/0605173).

4 pages, no figures; invited "perspective" article in "Science" (4 May 2006)

References in corpus (9)

• Observational Evidence from Supernovae for an Accelerating Universe and a Cosmological Constant
• Measurements of Omega and Lambda from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae
• A Cyclic Model of the Universe
• Predictions from Quantum Cosmology
• Likely Values of the Cosmological Constant
• Why the cosmological constant is small and positive
• The cosmological constant and the time of its dominance
• Vacuum Energy: If Not Now, Then When?
• Vacuum Energy: "If Not Now, Then When?"

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Features in Dark Energy Equation of State and Modulations in the Hubble Diagram
• Reconstruction of $f(T)$-gravity in the absence of matter
• Astrophysics in 2006