2002/09/26 by Nima Arkani-Hamed, Arkani-Hamed, Nima, Savas Dimopoulos +5
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-th/0209227
22 pages
arxiv created 2002/09/26 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30
We propose a phenomenological approach to the cosmological constant problem based on generally covariant non-local and acausal modifications of four-dimensional gravity at enormous distances. The effective Newton constant becomes very small at large length scales, so that sources with immense wavelengths and periods -- such as the vacuum energy-- produce minuscule curvature. Conventional astrophysics, cosmology and standard inflationary scenaria are unaffected, as they involve shorter length scales. A new possibility emerges that inflation may ``self-terminate'' naturally by its own action of stretching wavelengths to enormous sizes. In a simple limit our proposal leads to a modification of Einstein's equation by a single additional term proportional to the average space-time curvature of the Universe. It may also have a qualitative connection with the dS/CFT conjecture.