Quantum Vacuum and Virtual Gravitational Dipoles: The solution to the Dark Energy Problem?

TL;DR

This paper proposes that virtual particles and antiparticles have opposite gravitational charges, potentially resolving the cosmological constant problem and aligning theoretical estimates with observed dark energy values, while predicting a different universe evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a novel hypothesis that virtual particles have opposite gravitational charges, offering a new solution to the dark energy problem and differing from standard cosmological predictions.

Findings

Estimated dark energy density matches observations.

Predicts suppression of exponential universe expansion.

Provides a new perspective on quantum vacuum's role in cosmology.

Abstract

The cosmological constant problem is the principal obstacle in the attempt to interpret dark energy as the quantum vacuum energy. We suggest that the obstacle can be removed, i.e. that the cosmological constant problem can be resolved by assuming that the virtual particles and antiparticles in the quantum vacuum have the gravitational charge of the opposite sign. The corresponding estimates of the cosmological constant, dark energy density and the equation of state for dark energy are in the intriguing agreement with the observed values in the present day Universe. However, our approach and the Standard Cosmology lead to very different predictions for the future of the Universe; the exponential growth of the scale factor, predicted by the Standard Cosmology, is suppressed in our model.