Casimir Effect in a Supersymmetry-Breaking Brane-World as Dark Energy

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel model where the Casimir effect in a supersymmetry-breaking brane-world generates a small, effective dark energy, explaining the cosmological constant through boundary conditions in extra dimensions.

Contribution

It introduces a new mechanism linking the Casimir effect in a supersymmetry-breaking brane-world to the origin of dark energy, with a focus on the volume contrast in extra dimensions.

Findings

Casimir energy from graviton and gravitino modes accounts for dark energy.

Small cosmological constant achieved with relaxed conditions due to extra-dimensional volume contrast.

Model provides a natural explanation for the observed dark energy magnitude.

Abstract

A new model for the origin of dark energy is proposed based on the Casimir effect in a supersymmetry-breaking brane-world. Supersymmetry is assumed to be preserved in the bulk while broken on a 3-brane. Due to the boundary conditions imposed on the compactified extra dimensions, there is an effective Casimir energy induced on the brane. The net Casimir energy contributed from the graviton and the gravitino modes as a result of supersymmetry-breaking on the brane is identified as the observed dark energy, which in our construction is a cosmological constant. We show that the smallness of the cosmological constant, which results from the huge contrast in the extra-dimensional volumes between that associated with the 3-brane and that of the bulk, is attainable under very relaxed conditions.