Dynamics of biased domain walls and the devaluation mechanism

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 2008

Authors

Avelino, PP (Author) FCUP; Martins, CJAP (Author) FCUP; Sousa, L (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Physical Review D - Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology

Vol. 78 No. 103508

ISSN: 1550-7998

Publisher: American Physical Society

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge - 15 Citations

Scopus - 16 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-003-XJW

DOI: 10.1103/physrevd.78.043521

Abstract (EN): We study the evolution of biased domain walls in the early universe. We explicitly discuss the roles played by the surface tension and volume pressure in the evolution of the walls, and quantify their effects by looking at the collapse of spherical wall solutions. We then apply our results to a particular mechanism, known as the devaluation scenario, in which the dynamics of biased domain walls was suggested as a possible solution to the cosmological constant problem. Our results indicate that devaluation will, in general, lead to values of the cosmological constant that differ by several orders of magnitude from the observationally inferred value, rho(1/4)(vac) similar to 10(-3) eV. We also argue that the reasons behind this are not specific to a particular realization, and are expected to persist in any scenario of this kind, except if a low-energy C cutoff on the spectra of vacuum energy densities, of the order of the critical density at the present time, is postulated. This implies that any such scenario will require a fine-tuning similar to the usual one.

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7