Quantum vacuum energy in General Relativity

TL;DR

This paper proposes a new variable cosmological term in Einstein's equations that addresses the cosmological constant problem and simultaneously explains dark matter as a consequence of vacuum energy dynamics.

Contribution

It introduces a novel variable cosmological term that naturally resolves the fine-tuning problem and accounts for dark matter effects within General Relativity.

Findings

A variable cosmological term can satisfy fine-tuning conditions.

The dynamical vacuum energy generates an attractive force.

The approach offers a unified explanation for dark energy and dark matter.

Abstract

The paper deals with the scale discrepancy between the observed vacuum energy in cosmology and the theoretical quantum vacuum energy (cosmological constant problem). Here, we demonstrate that Einstein's equation and an analogy to particle physics leads to the first physical justification of the so-called fine-tuning problem. This fine-tuning could be automatically satisfied with the variable cosmological term $\Lambda(a)=\Lambda_0+\Lambda_1 a^{-(4-\epsilon)}$, $0 < \epsilon \ll 1,$ where $a$ is the scale factor. As a side effect of our solution of the cosmological constant problem, the dynamical part of the cosmological term generates an attractive force and solves the missing mass problem of dark matter.