A Manifestly Local Theory of Vacuum Energy Sequestering

Abstract

We present a manifestly local, diffeomorphism invariant and locally Poincare invariant formulation of vacuum energy sequestering. In this theory, quantum vacuum energy generated by matter loops is cancelled by auxiliary fields. The auxiliary fields decouple from gravity almost completely. Their only residual effect is an a priori arbitrary, finite contribution to the curvature of the background geometry, which is radiatively stable. Its value is to be determined by a measurement, like the finite part of any radiatively stable UV-sensitive quantity in quantum field theory.

9 pages, LaTeX; v2: clarifications added, typos corrected, final version accepted in PRL