Dark Energy, Inertia and Mach's Principle

TL;DR

This paper investigates whether the gravitational interaction energy of the quantum vacuum can account for local inertial masses, aligning with Mach's principle and involving a varying cosmological constant as a global Higgs-like field.

Contribution

It proposes a novel mechanism where vacuum energy's gravitational interaction contributes to inertia, linking Mach's principle with quantum vacuum effects and a dynamic cosmological constant.

Findings

Vacuum energy may influence local inertial mass.

A varying cosmological constant could act as a global Higgs field.

The approach offers a new perspective on inertia and Mach's principle.

Abstract

Mach's Principle says that a particle's inertia is due to some interaction of that particle with all the other masses in the universe. Here we explore the possibility of the gravitational interaction energy of the background quantum vacuum energy playing the role of a global Higg's field (described by a varying cosmological constant) entirely contributing to the local inertial masses of particles in the spirit of Mach's principle.