# Conformal gravity and a naturally small cosmological constant1footnote 11footnote 1astro-ph/9901219 v2, February 26, 2001.

## Abstract

With attempts to quench the cosmological constant $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ having so far failed, we instead investigate what could be done if $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is not quenched and actually gets to be as big as elementary particle physics suggests. Since the quantity relevant to cosmology is actually $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, quenching it to its small measured value is equally achievable by quenching not $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ but $`G`$ instead, with the $`G`$ relevant to cosmology then being much smaller than that measured in a low energy Cavendish experiment. A gravitational model in which this explicitly takes place, viz. conformal gravity, is presented, with the model being found to provide for a completely natural, non fine tuned accounting of the recent high $`z`$ accelerating universe supernovae data, no matter how big $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ itself actually gets to be. Thus to solve the cosmological constant problem we do not need to change or quench the energy content of the universe, but rather only its effect on cosmic evolution.

The recent discovery Riess1998 ; Perlmutter1998  that the current era deceleration parameter $`q(t_0)`$ is close to $`1/2`$ has made the already extremely disturbing cosmological constant problem even more vexing than before. Specifically, with $`q(t_0)`$ being given in standard gravity by $`q(t_0)=(n/21)\mathrm{\Omega }_M(t_0)\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t_0)`$ \[where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_M(t)=8\pi G\rho _M(t)/3c^2H^2(t)`$ is due to ordinary matter (i.e. matter for which $`\rho _M(t)=A/R^n(t)`$ where $`A>0`$ and $`3n4`$), and where $`\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)=8\pi G\mathrm{\Lambda }/3cH^2(t)`$ is due to a cosmological constant\], we see that not only must $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ be non-zero, it must be of order $`3c^2H^2(t_0)/8\pi G=\rho _C(t_0)`$ in magnitude, i.e. it must be quenched by no less than 60 orders of magnitude below its natural value as expected from fundamental particle physics. Additionally, since such a quenched $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ would then be of order $`\rho _M(t_0)`$ as well (the so-called cosmic coincidence), our particular cosmological epoch would then only be achievable in standard gravity if the macroscopic Friedmann evolution equation were to be fine-tuned at very early times to incredible precision. Any still to be found fundamental microscopic physics mechanism which might in fact quench $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ by the requisite sixty orders of magnitude would thus still leave standard gravity with an additional macroscopic coincidence to explain.

Since no mechanism has yet been found which might actually quench $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ and since its quenching might not necessarily work macroscopically anyway, we shall thus turn the problem around and ask what can be done if $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is not in fact quenched and is in fact as big as elementary particle physics suggests. To this end we note immediately that it would still be possible to have $`q(t_0)`$ be of order one today (the measurable consequence of $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) if instead of quenching $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ we instead quench $`G`$, with the cosmological $`G`$ then being replaced by an altogether smaller $`G_{eff}`$. Since observationally $`\rho _M(t_0)`$ is known to not be bigger than $`\rho _C(t_0)`$, any successful such cosmological quenching of $`G`$ (successful in the sense that such relativistic quenching not modify standard non-relativistic physics) would immediately leave us with a non-quenched $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ which would then not suffer from any cosmic coincidence problem.

Given these remarks it is thus of interest to note that it is precisely a situation such as this which obtains in the conformal gravity theory which has recently been advanced M1990 ; M1992 ; M1994 ; M1997 ; M1998 ; M1999 ; M2000  as a candidate alternative to the standard gravitational theory. Conformal gravity is a fully covariant gravitational theory which, unlike standard gravity, possesses an additional local scale invariance, a symmetry which when unbroken sets any fundamental cosmological constant and any fundamental $`G`$ to zeroM1990 . Unlike standard gravity conformal gravity thus has a great deal of control over the cosmological constant, a control which is found to be of relevance even after the conformal symmetry is spontaneously broken by the non-vanishing of a scalar field vacuum expectation value $`S_0`$ below a typical critical temperature $`T_V`$. In fact in the presence of such breaking the standard attractive $`G`$ phenomenology is found to still emerge at low energies M1994 , while cosmology is found M1992  to instead be controlled by the effective $`G_{eff}=3c^3/4\pi \mathrm{}S_0^2`$, a quantity which by being negative immediately entails cosmic repulsion M1998 , and which, due to its behaving as $`1/S_0^2`$, is made small by the very same mechanism which serves to make $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ itself large.

Other than the use of a changed $`G`$ the cosmic evolution of conformal gravity is otherwise the same as that of the standard one, viz. M1998 ; M1999 ; M2000 

$`\dot{R}^2(t)+kc^2=3c^3\dot{R}^2(t)(\mathrm{\Omega }_M(t)+\mathrm{\Omega }_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t))/4\pi \mathrm{}S_0^2G\dot{R}^2(t)(\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t)+\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t))`$   
$`q(t)=(n/21)\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t)\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ (1)   
(Eq. (1) serves to define $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t)`$ and $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$). Moreover, unlike the situation in the standard theory where values for the relevant evolution parameters (such as the sign of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$) are only determined phenomenologically, in conformal gravity essentially everything is already a priori known. With conformal gravity not needing dark matter to account for non-relativistic issues such as galactic rotation curve systematics M1997 , $`\rho _M(t_0)`$ can be determined directly from luminous matter alone, with galaxy luminosity accounts giving a value for it of order $`0.01\rho _C(t_0)`$ or so. Further, with $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ being generated by vacuum breaking in an otherwise scaleless theory, since such breaking lowers the energy density, $`c\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ is unambiguously negative, with it thus being typically given by $`\sigma T_V^4`$. Then with $`G_{eff}`$ also being negative, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ is necessarily positive, just as needed to give cosmic acceleration. Similarly, the sign of the spatial 3-curvature $`k`$ is known from theory M2000  to be negative,<sup>2</sup><sup>2</sup>2At the highest temperatures the zero energy density required of a (then) completely conformal invariant universe is maintained by a cancellation between the positive energy density of ordinary matter and the negative energy density due to the negative curvature of the gravitational field. something which has been independently confirmed from a study of galactic rotation curves M1997 . Finally, since $`G_{eff}`$ is negative, the cosmology is singularity free and thus expands from a finite maximum temperature $`T_{max}`$, a temperature which for $`k<0`$ is necessarily greater than $`T_V`$ M1998 ; M1999 ; M2000  (so that a large $`T_V`$ entails an even larger $`T_{max}`$).

Given only that $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$, $`k`$ and $`G_{eff}`$ are all negative, the temperature evolution of the theory is then completely determined for arbitrary $`T_{max}`$ and $`T_V`$, to yield M1998 ; M1999 ; M2000 

$$\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)=(1T^2/T_{max}^2)^1(1+T^2T_{max}^2/T_V^4)^1,\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t)=(T^4/T_V^4)\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)$$
(2)   
at any $`T`$. Thus, from Eq. (2) we see that simply because $`T_{max}T(t_0)`$, i.e. simply because the universe is as old as it is, it immediately follows that $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t_0)`$ has to lie somewhere between zero and one today no matter how big (or small) $`T_V`$ might be. Then, since $`T_VT(t_0)`$, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t_0)`$ has to be completely negligible,<sup>3</sup><sup>3</sup>3$`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t_0)`$ is suppressed by $`G_{eff}`$ being small, and not by $`\rho _M(t_0)`$ itself being small. so that $`q(t_0)`$ must thus necessarily lie between zero and minus one today notwithstanding that $`T_V`$ is huge. Moreover, the larger $`T_V`$ gets to be, the more $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t_0)`$ will be reduced below one, with it taking a value close to one half should $`T(t_0)T_{max}/T_V^2`$ be close to one. With $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t_0)`$ being negligible today, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t_0)`$ is therefore given as $`1+kc^2/\dot{R}^2(t_0)`$, a quantity which necessarily lies below one if $`k`$ is negative. Thus in a $`k<0`$ conformal gravity universe, once the universe has cooled enough, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t)`$ will then be forced to have to lie between zero and one no matter how big $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ may or may not be. The contribution of $`\mathrm{\Lambda }`$ to cosmology is thus seen to be completely under control in conformal gravity, with the theory thus leading us right into the $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_\mathrm{\Lambda }(t_0)1/2`$, $`\overline{\mathrm{\Omega }}_M(t_0)=0`$ region, a region which, while foreign to standard gravity, is nonetheless still fully compatible with the reported supernovae data fits. Hence to solve the cosmological constant problem we do not need to change or quench the energy content of the universe, but rather only its effect on cosmic evolution. This work has been supported in part by the Department of Energy under grant No. DE-FG02-92ER40716.00.