Cosmological constant problem on the horizon [CL]

http://arxiv.org/abs/2201.02016


We revisit the quantum cosmological constant problem and highlight the important roles played by the dS horizon of zero point energy. We argue that fields which are light enough to have dS horizon of zero point energy comparable to the FLRW Hubble radius are the main contributor to dark energy. On the other hand, the zero point energy of heavy fields develop nonlinearities on sub-Hubble scales and can not contribute to dark energy. Our proposal provides a simple resolution for both the old and new cosmological constant problems by noting that there exits a field, the (lightest) neutrino, which happens to have a mass comparable to the present background photon temperature. The natures of dark energy and dark matter are unified in this proposal in which the zero point energy of light fields are the source of dark energy while dark matter is sourced by the zero point energy of heavy fields. The proposal predicts multiple transient periods of dark energy in early and late expansion history of the universe yielding to a higher value of the current Hubble expansion rate which can resolve the $H_0$ tension problem.

Read this paper on arXiv…

H. Firouzjahi
Fri, 7 Jan 22
5/34

Comments: 38 pages, 2 figures