Inflation, phase transitions and the cosmological constant

TL;DR

This paper discusses how early Universe inflation and phase transitions influence the cosmological constant and vacuum energy, highlighting their roles in shaping observable cosmological features.

Contribution

It presents a detailed analysis of inflation's implications for vacuum energy and explores the effects of subsequent phase transitions.

Findings

Inflation impacts the vacuum energy significantly.

Second order phase transitions leave observable imprints.

Inflation explains key features of the observed Universe.

Abstract

Cosmological phase transitions are thought to have taken place at the early Universe imprinting their properties on the observable Universe. There is strong evidence that, through the dynamics of a scalar field that lead a second order phase transition, inflation shaped the Universe accounting for the most conspicuous features of the observed Universe. It is argued that inflation has also striking implications for the vacuum energy. Considerations for subsequent second order phase transitions are also discussed.