2004/05/31 by R. Opher, Reuven Opher, Ana Pelinson · 4 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astronomy #Astrophysics #Cold dark matter #Cosmic microwave background #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark Matter and Cosmic Phenomena #Dark energy #Energy density #False vacuum #Fluctuation spectrum #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Observational cosmology #Optics #Particle physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Redshift #Spectral density #Theoretical physics #Universe #Vacuum energy #astro-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevd.70.063529
published as Phys.Rev. D70 (2004) 063529 · RevTeX4, 4 pages. Accepted for publication in Phys. Rev. D
arxiv created 2004/09/08 · openalex publication_date 2004/09/22 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We investigate here models that suggest that the vacuum energy decays into cold dark matter (CDM) and show that the density fluctuation spectrum obtained from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data together with large galaxy surveys (e.g., the Sloan Digital Sky Survey), puts strong limits on the rate of decay of the vacuum energy. CDM produced by a decaying vacuum energy would dilute the density fluctuation spectrum, created in the primordial universe and observed with large galaxy surveys at low redshifts. Our results indicate that the decay rate of the vacuum energy into CDM is extremely small.