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Article
Spatial Gradients in the Cosmological Constant
Journal of High Energy Physics (2003)
  • John Donoghue, University of Massachusetts - Amherst
Abstract
It is possible that there may be differences in the fundamental physical parameters from one side of the observed universe to the other. I show that the cosmological constant is likely to be the most sensitive of the physical parameters to possible spatial variation, because a small variation in any of the other parameters produces a huge variation of the cosmological constant. It therefore provides a very powerful {\em indirect} evidence against spatial gradients or temporal variation in the other fundamental physical parameters, at least 40 orders of magnitude more powerful than direct experimental constraints. Moreover, a gradient may potentially appear in theories where the variability of the cosmological constant is connected to an anthropic selection mechanism, invoked to explain the smallness of this parameter. In the Hubble damping mechanism for anthropic selection, I calculate the possible gradient. While this mechanism demonstrates the existence of this effect, it is too small to be seen experimentally, except possibly if inflation happens around the Planck scale.
Keywords
  • Cosmology of Theories beyond the SM,
  • Physics of the Early Universe
Disciplines
Publication Date
2003
Publisher Statement
This is the pre-published version harvest from arXiv. The published version is located at http://iopscience.iop.org/1126-6708/2003/03/052
Citation Information
John Donoghue. "Spatial Gradients in the Cosmological Constant" Journal of High Energy Physics Vol. 2003 Iss. 3 (2003)
Available at: http://works.bepress.com/john_donoghue/134/