A New Strategy for Solving Two Cosmological Constant Problems in Hadron Physics

Abstract

A new approach to solving two of the cosmological constant problems (CCPs) is proposed by introducing the Abbott-Deser (AD) method for defining Killing charges in asymptotic de Sitter space as the only consistent means for defining the ground-state vacuum for the CCP. That granted, Einstein gravity will also need to be modified at short-distance nuclear scales, using instead a nonminimally coupled scalar-tensor theory of gravitation that provides for the existence of QCD’s two-phase vacuum having two different zero-point energy states as a function of temperature. Einstein gravity alone cannot accomplish this. The scalar field will be taken from bag theory in hadron physics, and the origin of the bag constant B is accounted for by gravity’s CC as B —noting that the Higgs mechanism does not account for either the curved-space origin of λ or the mass of composite hadrons. A small Hubble-scale graviton mass m g ～ 10 -33 eV naturally appears external to the hadron bag, induced by λ≠ 0. This mass is unobservable and gravitationally gauge-dependent. It is shown to be related to the cosmological event horizon in asymptotic de Sitter space.