Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Living with lambda

  • Published:
Pramana Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This talk presents a brief overview of recent results pertaining to the cosmological constant ‘A’. I summarize the observational situation focussing on observations of high redshift Type Ia supernovae which suggest A > 0. Observations of small angular anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background complement Type Ia supernovae observations and both CMB and Sn can be combined to place strong constraints on the value of A. The presence of a small A-term increases the age of the universe and slows down the formation of large scale structure. I also review recent theoretical attempts to generate a small A-term at the current epoch and a model independent approach for determining the cosmic equation of state.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. J V Narlikar, Introduction to Cosmology (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1993)

    MATH  Google Scholar 

  2. A D Linde, Particle Physics and Inflationary Cosmology (Harwood Academic Publishers, 1990)

  3. V Sahni, Pramana—J. Phys. 51, 27 (1998)

    ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  4. V Sahni, H Feldman and A Stebbins, Ap. J. 385, 1 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  5. S J Perlmutter et al, Nature 391, 51 (1998a)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  6. S J Perlmutter et al, Ap. J. 517, 565 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  7. A G Riess et al, Astron. J. 116, 1009 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  8. Ya B Zeldovich, Sov. Phys. Usp. 95, 209 (1968)

    Google Scholar 

  9. S Weinberg, Rev. Mod. Phys. 61, 1 (1989)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  10. S M Carroll, W H Press and E L Turner, Ann. Rev. Astron. Astrophys. 30, 499 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. V Sahni and A A Starobinsky, IJMP D9, 373 (2000)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  12. B Leibundgut, astro-ph/0003326.

  13. M Tegmark, D J Eisenstein, W Hu and R G Kron, astro-ph/9805117 (1998)

  14. A Melchiorri et al., astro-ph/9911445

  15. At the time of writing the new BOOMERANG results have established a peak at l peak = 197 ± 12 (95% CL) indicating Θtotal = 1 ± 0.12 at the 95% confidence level [19]

  16. G Efstathiou and J R Bond, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 304, 75 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  17. G Efstathiou et al, Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc. 303, L47 (1999)

  18. M White, Ap. J. 506, 495 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  19. P de Bernardis et al, Nature 404, 955 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  20. J Dunlop et al, Nature 381, 581 (1996)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. Y Yoshii, T Tsujimoto and K Kawara, Ap. J. 507, L113 (1998)

  22. L M Krauss, Ap. J. 480, 466 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  23. T D Saini, S Raychaudhury, V Sahni and A Starobinsky, Phys. Rev. Lett. 85, 1162 (2000)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  24. G Efstathiou, W Sutherland and S J Maddox, Nature 348, 705 (1990)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  25. I Waga and A M R Miceli, Phys. Rev. D59, 103507 (1999)

    Google Scholar 

  26. I Waga and J A Frieman, astro-ph/0001354 (2000)

  27. A A Starobinsky, astro-ph/9912054 (1999)

  28. A Loeb, astro-ph/9802122 (1998)

  29. G D Starkman, M Trodden and T Vachaspati, Phys. Rev. Lett. 83, 1510 (1999)

    Article  MATH  ADS  Google Scholar 

  30. B Zumino, Nucl. Phys. B89, 535 (1975)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  31. I Antoniadis, S Dimopoulos and G Dvali, Nucl. Phys. B516, 70 (1998)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  32. V Sahni and S Habib, Phys. Rev. Lett. 81, 1766 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  33. L Parker and A Raval, Phys. Rev. D60, 063512 (1999)

  34. J Frieman, C T Hill, A Stebbins and I Waga, Phys. Rev. Lett. 75, 2077 (1995)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  35. B Ratra and P J E Peebles, Phys. Rev. D37, 3406 (1988)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  36. C Wetterich, Nucl. Phys. B302, 668 (1988)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  37. P G Ferreira and M Joyce, Phys. Rev. Lett. 79, 4740 (1997)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  38. V Sahni and L Wang, astro-ph/9910097 (1999)

  39. I Zlatev, L Wang and P J Steinhardt, Phys. Rev. Lett. 82, 896 (1999)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. A A Starobinsky, JETP Lett. 68, 757 (1998)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag 4, 411 007, Ganeshkhind, Pune, India

    Varun Sahni

Authors
  1. Varun Sahni
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Sahni, V. Living with lambda. Pramana - J Phys 55, 559–573 (2000). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12043-000-0166-2

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12043-000-0166-2

Key words

PACS Nos

Search

Navigation