标题： 中子超时空泡沫和宇宙常数 显示英文标题

标题： Midisuperspacetime foam and the cosmological constant

摘要： 标准量子场论论证预测了一个巨大的宇宙学常数。 但这在观测上意味着什么？ 对于一个均匀的宇宙，答案是明确的，但如果宇宙在普朗克尺度上是不均匀的，这个问题就变得更为微妙：对于一大类初始数据，快速膨胀和收缩的区域共存，并给出接近于零的平均膨胀。 经典上，这样的数据会发展出奇点，我们需要它们演化的量子描述。 我描述了一个球对称的中超空间模型的结果，在该模型中，波函数可以在平均膨胀保持较小的区域中长时间被束缚，从而有效地隐藏了一个大的宇宙学常数。 显示英文摘要

摘要： Standard quantum field theory arguments predict an enormous cosmological constant. But what would this mean observationally? For a homogeneous universe the answer is clear, but if the universe is inhomogeneous at the Planck scale, the question becomes more subtle: for a large class of initial data, rapidly expanding and contracting regions coexist and give an average expansion near zero. Classically, such data develop singularities, and we need a quantum description of their evolution. I describe results from a spherically symmetric midisuperspace model, in which the wave function can become trapped for long periods in regions in which the average expansion remains small, effectively hiding a large cosmological constant.