Classical Nature of the Evolution of Dark Energy Density

TL;DR

This paper models dark energy evolution using a quantum Higgs-field framework with a varying Planck constant, suggesting a classical transition and explaining the current cosmological constant without the 'why now' problem.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum theory of dark energy evolution with a time-dependent Planck constant, providing a classical interpretation and matching observed cosmological constant.

Findings

Current cosmological constant estimated at ~2.05×10^{-3} eV

Dark energy remains nearly conserved after inflation

Model aligns with recent observational data

Abstract

By ignoring the local density fluctuations, we construct an uniform Higgs-field's (inflaton's) quantum theory with varying effective Planck constant ($\hbar_{v}(t) \propto R(t)^{-3}$) for the evolution of the dark energy density during the epoch after inflation. With presumable sufficient inflation in the very early period (time-scale is $t_{inf}$), so that $\hbar_{v}\to 0$, the state of universe decomposes into some decoherent components, which could be the essential meaning of phase transition, and each of them could be well described by classical mechanics for an inharmonic oscillator in the corresponding potential-well with a viscous force. We find that the cosmological constant at present is $\Lambda_{now}\approx 2.05\times 10^{-3}$ eV, which is almost independent of the choice of potential for inflaton, and agrees excellently with the recent observations. In addition, we find that, during the cosmic epoch after inflation, the dark energy is almost conserved as well as the matter's energy, therefore the "why now" problem can be avoided.