Spacetime foam correlation renders the cosmological constant (dark energy)

TL;DR

This paper proposes that spacetime foam excitations, modeled by a foamon field, influence large-scale cosmological dynamics, providing a novel explanation for the cosmological constant and dark energy through quantum gravitational effects.

Contribution

It introduces a new effective foamon field theory derived from spacetime foam dynamics, linking quantum gravity effects to cosmological constant and dark energy.

Findings

The foamon field induces an effective Einstein action with a cosmological constant.

Correlation length of the foamon field sets a natural scale for cosmological effects.

The model predicts the equation of state and interaction of dark energy with matter.

Abstract

Wheeler's spacetime foams (wormholes) at the Planck length undergo quantum nucleation, oscillation and annihilation. Their collective excitations over foamy spacetime interact with field operators at large distances. We describe such collective excitation and interaction using an effective ``foamon'' field coupled with field operators. The Wilson renormalisation group approach shows that the foamon field theory evolves from an infrared scaling invariant domain to an ultraviolet one, when numerous particles are present. In these domains, the foamon field induces an effective action of field operators, and its correlation length sets a natural scale. Applying this to cosmology, we obtain the effective Einstein action for the Ricci scalar and the cosmological constant (dark energy), including its equation of state and interaction with matter.