Broken Scale Invariance and Quintessence (a quarter of a century ago)

TL;DR

This paper revisits a scalar field model that breaks scale invariance to generate Newton's constant, exploring its cosmological implications including a perturbed de Sitter universe and evolving gravitational coupling.

Contribution

It demonstrates how spontaneous scale invariance breaking can produce a dynamic gravitational constant within a cosmological setting, revisiting a model from twenty-five years ago.

Findings

Matter introduces small perturbations to de Sitter space

Gravitational coupling varies with time

Model provides a consistent cosmological description

Abstract

The cosmological consequences of a simple scalar field model for the generation of Newton's constant through the spontaneous breaking of scale invariance in a curved space-time are again presented and discussed. Such a model leads to a consistent description wherein the introduction of matter introduces a small perturbation on a de Sitter universe and a time dependence of the gravitational coupling.