The scaling evolution of cosmological constant

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum field theory predicts the variation of the cosmological constant and gravitational constants over energy scales, analyzing their impact on early universe processes and cosmological evolution.

Contribution

It derives the particle contributions to the running of cosmological and gravitational constants within the Standard Model in curved spacetime, extending previous work.

Findings

Running of constants assessed for primordial nucleosynthesis impact

Higher energy calculations performed with sharp cutoff approximation

Cosmological implications of running constants discussed

Abstract

In quantum field theory the parameters of the vacuum action are subject to renormalization group running. In particular, the ``cosmological constant'' is not a constant in a quantum field theory context, still less should be zero. In this paper we continue with previous work, and derive the particle contributions to the running of the cosmological and gravitational constants in the framework of the Standard Model in curved space-time. At higher energies the calculation is performed in a sharp cut off approximation. We assess, in two different frameworks, whether the scaling dependences of the cosmological and gravitational constants spoil primordial nucleosynthesis. Finally, the cosmological implications of the running of the cosmological constant are discussed.