Theory Seminars
Pancosmic Relativity and the Cosmological Constant Problem
by
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Europe/Madrid
IFAE Seminar Zoom Room (Online Only)
IFAE Seminar Zoom Room
Online Only
https://ifae.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=04e73a7c8cf2679d5845dbcd4&id=fae0bc7840&e=2dce79271c
Description
We define `third derivative' General Relativity, by promoting the integration measure in Einstein-Hilbert action to be an arbitrary $4$-form field strength. We project out its local fluctuations by coupling it to another $4$-form field strength. This ensures that the gravitational sector contains only the usual massless helicity-2 propagating modes. Adding the charges to these $4$-forms allows for discrete variations of the coupling parameters of conventional General Relativity: $G_N, \Lambda, H_0$, and even $\langle {\tt Higgs }\rangle$ are all variables which can change by jumps. Hence de Sitter is unstable to membrane nucleation. Using this instability we explain how the cosmological constant problem can be solved.