Physics and Cosmology : the Milli-Electron-Volt Scale

TL;DR

This paper reviews the vacuum energy and cosmological constant, highlighting the discrepancy between theoretical predictions and observed acceleration of the universe at the meV energy scale, suggesting a link between particle physics and cosmology.

Contribution

It discusses the mismatch between predicted vacuum energy and observed cosmological constant, proposing a connection between Standard Model physics and cosmology as a clue for new physics.

Findings

Observed universe acceleration corresponds to a meV energy scale.

Theoretical vacuum energy predictions vastly exceed observed values.

Potential link between particle physics and cosmological models.

Abstract

A short review about vacuum energy and the cosmological constant is presented. The observed acceleration of the universe introduces a new meV energy scale. The problem is that, theoretically, the predicted vacuum energy is many orders of magnitude larger than $10^{-3}$ eV. The problem is a link between two Standard Models, namely the Standard Model of Particles and their Interactions (where the vacuum energy appears) and the Standard Cosmological Model (where a cosmological constant is a good fit to data), and perhaps it is a clue in our search for new physics.