Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2002-03-20
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
51 pages, 4 figures, Invited lecture at the first {\it S\'eminaire Poincar\'e}, Paris, March 2002
Scientific paper
In this article the cosmological constant problems, as well as the astronomical evidence for a cosmologically significant homogeneous exotic energy density with negative pressure (quintessence), are reviewed for a broad audience of physicists and mathematicians. After a short history of the cosmological term it is explained why the (effective) cosmological constant is expected to obtain contributions from short-distance physics corresponding to an energy scale at least as large as the Fermi scale. The actual tiny value of the cosmological constant by particle physics standards represents, therefore, one of the deepest mysteries of present-day fundamental physics. In a second part I shall discuss recent astronomical evidence for a cosmologically significant vacuum energy density or an effective equivalent, called quintessence. Cosmological models, which attempt to avoid the disturbing cosmic coincidence problem, are also briefly reviewed.
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