QED Vacuum Loops and Dark Energy

TL;DR

This paper proposes a QED-based model where vacuum fluctuations generate an effective electromagnetic field, explaining both the initial inflationary energy and current dark energy, with a parameter that fits observed data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel QED-inspired bootstrap mechanism linking vacuum fluctuations to dark energy, maintaining Lorentz invariance and fitting observational data with a single parameter.

Findings

Model reproduces current dark energy density for parameter round 1

Maintains Lorentz invariance in the vacuum field

Provides a unified explanation for inflation and dark energy

Abstract

A QED--based "bootstrap" mechanism is suggested as an explanation for the vacuum energy that furnished the initial impulse for Inflation, and continues on to provide present day Dark Energy. Virtual vacuum fluctuations are assumed to generate effective electromagnetic fields whose average value corresponds to an effective c--number $A_{\mu}^{\rm vac}(x)$, which is itself equal to the vacuum expectation value of the operator $A_{\mu}(x)$ in the presence of that $A_{\mu}^{\rm vac}(x)$. Lorentz invariance is manifest, as every observer would measure the same electric field in his or her own reference frame. The model has one arbitrary parameter $\xi$, and fits the energy density of present day Dark Energy for $\xi\sim O(1)$.