Cosmological Mass of the Photon and Dark Energy as its Bose-Einstein Condensate in de Sitter Space

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel model where dark energy is a Bose-Einstein condensate of cosmologically massive photons in de Sitter space, linking quantum mechanics, general relativity, and cosmological observations.

Contribution

It introduces a new physical picture of dark energy as a BEC of massive photons, estimating photon mass and connecting fundamental constants across scales.

Findings

Estimated photon mass consistent with dark energy properties.

Derived vacuum energy of the BEC supports the model.

Linked photon mass to neutrino masses and fundamental constants.

Abstract

I develop a physical picture of dark energy (DE) based on fundamental principles and constants of quantum mechanics (QM) and general relativity (GR) theories. It derives from a conjecture of non-zero masses for nearly standard-model photons, based on QM localization at a cosmological scale. Dark energy is associated with de Sitter space and that has a fundamentally invariant event horizon. I conceive of DE as a Bose-Einstein condensate (BEC) of cosmologically massive photons and I estimate fundamentally the binding energy per particle originating from an effectively attractive QM potential in that BEC. Since massive photons may stand at rest in a de Sitter universe with flat spatial geometry, I solve the time-independent Schroedinger equation for a non-relativistic attractive spherical-well potential self-confining at the de Sitter horizon. The minimal critical potential depth that binds a particle state at the top of that well, combined with the prototypical condition of dark energy-pressure relation in the standard flat $\Lambda$-CDM model, provides an estimate of the photon mass, $m_g$. That is supported by an independent calculation of the vacuum energy of the BEC in a de Sitter static metric with coordinate-time slicing. These estimates provide compatible accounts of dark energy condensation, bridging a chasm between nuclear and cosmological scales. Most notably, I consider a system of cosmological units, or `$g$-units,' that complements the fundamental system of Planck units in various ways. The geometric mean of Planck and $g$-mass turns out to be remarkably close to current estimates of neutrino masses, suggesting that even masses of the lightest known fermions may be deeply related to both GR and QM fundamental constants $\Lambda$, $G$, $c$ and $h$. I finally relate the fine structure constant to $m_g$ and a Coulomb potential confined within a corresponding cosmological horizon.