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In recent cosmological models, there is an "anthropic" upper bound on the cosmological constant A.
It is argued here that that do not recollapse, the only such bound on A is that it should not
in universes
be so large as to prevent the formation of gravitationally bound states. It turns out that the bound is
quite large. A cosmological constant that is within 1 or 2 orders of magnitude of its upper bound would
help with the missing-mass and age problems, but may be ruled out by galaxy number counts. If so, we
may conclude that anthropic considerations do not explain the smallness of the cosmological constant.
Our knowledge of the present expansion rate of the in cosmological constants between the inside and outside
Universe indicates that the effective value A of the of each membrane caused by the diA'erences in the values
cosmological constant is vastly less than what would be of the four-form field strength. In models of the type
produced by quantum fluctuations' in any known realis- discussed in Refs. 4 and 5 it may not be strictly neces-
tic theory of elementary particles. In view of the contin- sary to invoke the anthropic principle because gravita-
ued failure to find a microscopic explanation of the tional effects can stop the process of bubble formation
smallness of the cosmological constant, it seems when the vacuum energy is about to become negative.
worthwhile to look for a solution in other, "anthropic,
" However, it takes an enormously long time to reach this
directions. Perhaps A must be small enough to allow final stage, and anthropic arguments may be needed to
the Universe to evolve to its present nearly empty and explain why we are not still in an earlier stage, with
flat state, because otherwise there would be no scientists large effective cosmological constant.
to worry about it. Without having a definite framework (c) Fluctuations in scalar fields can trigger cosmic
for such reasoning, one can at least point to four lines of inflation in regions of the Universe where the fields hap-
current cosmological speculation, in which anthropic pen to be large. Except near the edges, the inflationary
considerations could set bounds on the value we observe region would appear to its inhabitants as a separate
for the effective cosmological constant: subuniverse. In this region further fluctuations can pro-
(a) The effective cosmological constant may evolve duce new inflations, and so on. This has been studied by
very slowly, perhaps because of slow changes in the value Linde, who remarks that the physical constants of the
of some scalar field, as in the model of Banks. In this subuniverse in which we live may be in part constrained
case, it would be natural to expect that for some very by the requirement that life could arise in such a
long epoch the cosmological constant would remain near subuniverse.
zero. The question then is, why do we find ourselves in (d) Quantum Auctuations in the very early Universe
such an epoch? As remarked by Banks, the answer may may cause incoherence between different terms in the
be anthropic: Perhaps only in such epochs is life possi- state vector of the Universe; each term would then in
ble. effect represent a separate universe. Such a picture has
(b) The Universe may evolve through a very large been considered by Hawking. Our own Universe could
number of first-order phase transitions, in which bubbles correspond to any one of the terms in the state vector,
form within bubbles within bubbles. . . , each bubble subject only to the anthropic condition, that it be a
having within it a smaller value of the vacuum energy, universe in which life could develop.
and hence of the effective cosmological constant. Ef the Without committing ourselves to any one of these
steps in vacuum energy are very small, then it would be cosmological models, it seems appropriate at least to ask,
natural to expect that there would be some phase in just what limit does the anthropic principle place on the
which the eff'ective cosmological constant is correspond- effective cosmological constant A?
ingly small. Abbott has suggested a scalar-field theory Fortunately, at least for A & 0, the anthropic principle
with a potential that has an infinite number of closely provides a rather sharp upper bound on A. This is be-
spaced local minima; bubbles form within bubbles as the cause in a continually expanding universe, the cosmologi-
scalar-field value jumps from one minimum to the next. cal constant (unlike charges, masses, etc. ) can affect the
Recently Brown and Teitelboim have proposed a model evolution of life in only one way. Without undue anthro-
in which a similar sequence of phase transitions occurs, pocentrism, it seems safe to assume that in order for any
but in which the bubble walls are elementary membranes sort of life to arise in an initially homogeneous and iso-
coupled to a three-form gauge field, with the difference tropic universe, it is necessary for sufficiently large gravi-
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VOLUME 59, NUMBER 22 PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 30 NOVEMBER 1987
(1),
we find for the perturbed curvature constant
probably also the larger globular clusters are suSciently
large in this sense. ' ) However, once a sufficiently large Ak =", zGa (p+Ap) p (5)
gravitationally bound system has formed, a cosmological
constant would have no further eAect on its dynamics, or Equation (1) shows that the perturbed scale factor
on the eventual evolution of life. In particular, it makes a(t) will increase to a maximum and then collapse back
no diff'erence if the e-folding time of the cosmic expan- to a =0, provided that there is a value of a(t) where the
sion is much shorter than the time required for the evolu- right-hand side of Eq. (I) is equal to Ak. The right-
tion of intelligent life. '' (Note that I am here not re- hand side of Eq. (1) reaches a minimum at a value of
quiring that the cosmological constant have a value con- a(t) such that p+Ap=2pv, and so the condition for a
sistent with the astronomical knowledge, but only that it given perturbation to undergo gravitational condensation
have a value consistent with the appearance of beings is that at this minimum, the right-hand side of Eq. (1)
that could measure it. ) Thus, irrespective of what we should be less than h, k. This condition can be written
think are the possible forms of intelligent life, the neces- gtrGpv" [ ,' (p+Wp)]"'a' & ak. (6)
sary and sufhcient anthropic condition on the cosmologi-
cal constant is that it should not be so large as to prevent With use of Eq. (5) to express the perturbed curvature
the appearance of gravitationally bound states. constant in terms of the parameter p, this becomes
I evaluate this bound here in the context of conven- 500
tional big-bang cosmologies, described by a Robertson- pv&9p. (7)
Walker metric with initially small perturbations. For If there is an upper bound on the parameter p, and if this
definiteness I will concentrate here on the case of positive upper bound is independent of A (because it refers to
cosmological constant and zero spatial curvature, k=0, very early times, when pv is negligible), then Eq. (7)
and with the energy density of the Universe dominated provides our anthropic bound on the vacuum energy den-
since recombination by nonrelativistic matter. However, sity.
it would not be hard to adapt the arguments to any other [It is instructive to compare this with the result of
case in which the Universe does not recollapse. a linear analysis, in which h, k and hp are treated
Let us consider then the fate of a density perturbation throughout as first-order perturbations. The solution of
in a Universe with A&0. Such a perturbation can be the second-order differential equation' for Ap/p takes
modeled' as a sphere within which there is a uniform the form
excess density hp(t), and a gravitational field described
by a Robertson-Walker (RW) metric with positive cur- ~ (sinhr ) 't'Q (coth r),
vature constant Ak ) 0, and with RW scale factor a(t).
The evolution of the perturbation is governed by a Fried-
where
Ap/p lttg
r=(6trGpv) ' t,
mann equation
and Q,"(z) is the associated Legendre function of the
(da/dt) +6k =
', ~Ga (p+Ap+pv),
second kind. ' This behaves for z((1 like and then z,
rises monotonically' to a constant limit as z By ~.
:
where p(t) is the unperturbed cosmic mass density, pv is
comparing the asymptotic behavior of Ap/p for r 0
the constant vacuum energy density
and z ~, we can see that if we normalize so that
pvA/gtrG, Ap/p er for r 0, then for r
(2)
", )r(
~p/p- (2/J~)r( -', )~ = 1.437~.
and Ap(t) is the perturbation, satisfying the equation of
mass conservation With this normalization, the parameter p is just e pt, so
that hp/p 1.437(p/pv) 't . One might guess that the
a '(p+ Ap) = const. necessary and sufhcient condition for gravitational con-
densation is that the linear analysis should give an
I am not assuming here that hp or hk is small, but there asymptotic value of Ap/p at least of order unity. If this
is a branch of the solutions
t 0, hp tx t while p ~ t,
of Eq. (1) for which, as
so that in this limit
p~&&hp&&p. I assume that all perturbations are on this
were correct, then the upper bound on p~ for gravitation-
al condensation to occur would be
branch, so that the universe looks smooth for t 0. The pv & (1 437)P =2.97p.
strength of such a perturbation can then be character- This is quite different from the result (7), showing the
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VOLUME 59, NUMBER 22 PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 30 NOVEMBER 1987
to
r, = ' (1+po/p~)
,
'i Ho '
finvsinh(py/po) 'i invsinh[(p~/po) '
(1+z, ) ~
]I.
If for instance z, =4 and py/po=9 (i.e. , 00=0. 1), then
the age (11) is 1. 1HO ', which even for Ho close to 100 thropic upper bound (7).
km/sec Mpc leaves adequate time for the evolution of A similar conclusion would be reached if it turns out
globular clusters. that gravitational condensations occur at red shifts larger
On the other hand, counts of galaxies as a function than 4. 5. For instance, if gravitational condensations
of red shift indicate (for k =0) that A/3HD =0. 1+0'4 occur at a red shift z, =30, then according to Eq. (10),
or in other words py/p0=0. 1 ~0.3. According to (10), the anthropic upper bound on py is at least 10 pp. But
this is at least 3 orders of magnitude less than the an- Qo cannot be less than about 0.01, indicating (for k =0)
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VOLUME 59, NUMBER 22 PHYSICAL REVIEW LETTERS 30 NOVEMBER 1987
a vacuum energy density pz no greater than 100po, ing out of the gas from the clusters during these passages. I f
which is again at least 3 orders of magnitude less than globular clusters formed first, and then did not associate with
the anthropic upper bound. galaxies, there could still be heavy elements formed by the
Thus if the interpretation of galaxy number counts in evolving stars in a cluster, condensing to the plane of rotation
Ref. 20 holds up, or if gravitational condensations are of the cluster, perhaps reaching densities high enough to allow
the formation of second-generation stars with planets. This
found at red shifts z 4, we will be able to conclude that
could work for large enough globular clusters which thus
the cosmological constant is so small that even the an- eA'ectively become small galaxies. A small globular cluster
thropic principle could not explain its smallness. would probably not have sufhcient gravitational attraction to
I am grateful for conversations with T. Banks, hold the gas against the blast effects of supernovae stripping it
G. Field, F. Wilczek, E. Witten, A. Zee, and with many from the cluster.
colleagues at the University of Texas, and especially to iiln this respect, I differ from Barrow and Tipler (Ref. 2)
P. Shapiro for helpful discussions of the data and refer- and consequently obtain a different anthropic bound on A.
They require that A 't (roughly the vacuum Hubble time)
ences in observational cosmology. This work is support- ~ i
ed in part by the Robert A. Welch Foundation and Na- should be at least as large as the main-sequence stellar lifetime
tional Science Foundation Grant No. 8605978. This seems to me correct for A & 0 [where the Universe
recollapses in a time rt(3 A ) ' ], but not for A) 0, the case
~ ~
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