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Vacuum Energy as the Origin of the Gravitational Constant

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Abstract

We develop a geometro-dynamical approach to the cosmological constant problem (CCP) by invoking a geometry induced by the energy-momentum tensor of vacuum, matter and radiation. The construction, which utilizes the dual role of the metric tensor that it structures both the spacetime manifold and energy-momentum tensor of the vacuum, gives rise to a framework in which the vacuum energy induced by matter and radiation, instead of gravitating, facilitates the generation of the gravitational constant. The non-vacuum sources comprising matter and radiation gravitate normally. At the level of classical gravitation, the mechanism deadens the CCP yet quantum gravitational effects, if strong, can keep it existent.

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  1. Department of Physics, İzmir Institute of Technology, TR35430, İzmir, Turkey

    Durmuş A. Demir

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Demir, D.A. Vacuum Energy as the Origin of the Gravitational Constant. Found Phys 39, 1407–1425 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-009-9364-z

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