2003/11/17 by Gordon Kane, G. L. Kane, Kane, G. L. +4
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Solar and Space Plasma Dynamics #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0311152
8 pages
arxiv created 2003/11/17 · openalex publication_date 2003/11/17 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We argue that in the context of string theory a large number N of connected degenerate vacua that mix will lead to a ground state with much lower energy, essentially because of the standard level repulsion of quantum theory for the wavefunction of the Universe. We imagine a history where initial quantum fluctuations give an energy density ∼ msusy2mPl2, but the universe quickly cascades to an energy density ∼ msusy2mPl2/N. Then at various phase transitions there are large contributions to the energy density and rearrangement of levels, followed again by a rapid cascade to the ground state or near it. If this mechanism is correct, the ground state of the theory describing our world would be a superposition of a large number of connected string vacua,with shared superselection sets of properties such as three families etc. The observed value of the cosmological constant in terms of the Planck mass, the scale of supersymmetry breaking and the number of connected string vacua.