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| Format: | Preprint |
| Published: |
2025
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| Online Access: | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.24953 |
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| _version_ | 1866918177565310976 |
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| author | Carlip, Steven |
| author_facet | Carlip, Steven |
| contents | Standard quantum field theory arguments predict an enormous cosmological constant. But what would this mean observationally? For a homogeneous universe the answer is clear, but if the universe is inhomogeneous at the Planck scale, the question becomes more subtle: for a large class of initial data, rapidly expanding and contracting regions coexist and give an average expansion near zero. Classically, such data develop singularities, and we need a quantum description of their evolution. I describe results from a spherically symmetric midisuperspace model, in which the wave function can become trapped for long periods in regions in which the average expansion remains small, effectively hiding a large cosmological constant. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2510_24953 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2025 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Midisuperspacetime foam and the cosmological constant Carlip, Steven General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory Standard quantum field theory arguments predict an enormous cosmological constant. But what would this mean observationally? For a homogeneous universe the answer is clear, but if the universe is inhomogeneous at the Planck scale, the question becomes more subtle: for a large class of initial data, rapidly expanding and contracting regions coexist and give an average expansion near zero. Classically, such data develop singularities, and we need a quantum description of their evolution. I describe results from a spherically symmetric midisuperspace model, in which the wave function can become trapped for long periods in regions in which the average expansion remains small, effectively hiding a large cosmological constant. |
| title | Midisuperspacetime foam and the cosmological constant |
| topic | General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Theory |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.24953 |