Thomas L. Wilson. A New Perspective On Solving Two Cosmological Constant Problems
Natural Sciences / Physics / Gravitation Theory (Relativity)
Submitted on: Jun 18, 2012, 14:32:32
Description: A new approach to solving two of the cosmological constant problems (CCPs) is proposed by introducing the Abbott-Deser (AD) method for defining global energy and Killing charges in asymptotic de Sitter space as the only consistent means for defining the ground-state vacuum for the CCP. That granted, Einstein gravity will also need to be modified at short distance scales, using instead a nonminimally coupled scalar-tensor theory of gravitation that provides for the existence of QCD's two-phase vacuum having two different zero-point energy states as a function of temperature. Einstein gravity alone cannot accomplish this. The scalar field will be taken from bag theory in hadron physics. A small graviton mass mg ~10^-33 eV naturally appears as a secondary effect, induced by the existence of a nonzero CC (Lambda not equal to 0), with a smooth zero-mass limit mg ->0 as Lambda->0. This mass is shown to be related to the cosmological event horizon in asymptotic de Sitter space.