Volume 20: Pages 334-337, 2007

Renormalization of Vacuum Energy

Kenneth J. Epstein ¹

¹6400 North Sheridan, #2604, Chicago, Illinois 60626‐5331, U.S.A.

The absurdly large vacuum energy density ρ_ν predicted by quantum field theory is reduced by a negative cosmological constant Λ < 0 to a renormalized vacuum energy ρ_ν^′ ≡ ρ_ν + Λ/(8π), which can be positive or negative. Three inflation eras, due to three symmetry breakings, are explained by large positive values of ρ_ν^′. The big bang is explained as a singularly inflationary symmetry breaking that ended the Planck era and began the grand unified era. Accelerating expansion in the present era is explained by a small intergalactic ρ_ν^′ > 0 interpreted as dark energy. It is then shown how intragalactic ρ_ν^′ < 0 can simulate dark matter by creating a generalized Schwarzschild—anti‐de Sitter metric with a gravitational harmonic oscillator potential that Newtonian physics attributes to a uniform halo of dark matter.

Keywords: negative cosmological constant, vacuum energy renormalization, vacuum pressure renormalization, dark energy, dark matter

Received: June 4, 2007; Published Online: March 26, 2009