Surface tension and the Cosmological Constant

by Dr Joseph Samuel (Raman Research Institute)

Thursday 8 May 2014, 14:30 → 15:30 Europe/Rome

0M04 (Dipartimento di Fisica)

We explore an analogy between the surface tension of fluid membranes and the cosmological constant. This analogy is based on the standard relation between statistical mechanics and quantum physics. We discuss the possibility that the observed small nonzero value of the cosmological constant is actually a quantum gravity effect. Pursuing the analogy, a small statistical fluctuation surface tension of fluid membranes is related to a small quantum fluctuation of the cosmological constant.