Vacuum energy density measured from cosmological data

Abstract

Within the ΛCDM cosmological model, the absolute value of Einstein's cosmological constant Λ, sometimes expressed as the gravitating mass-energy density ρΛ of the physical vacuum, is a fundamental constant of nature, whose accurate measurement plays a central role in testing some proposed theories of quantum gravity. Several combinations of currently public cosmological data and an assumed flat ΛCDM cosmological model are used here to make a joint Bayesian inference on the combination of conventional parameters Ω Λ h 2 that corresponds to the absolute physical density ρΛ. In physical units, we obtain ρ Λ = (60.3 ± 1.3)× 10 -31 g/cm 3 , the most accurate constraint to date, with an absolute calibration of cosmological measurements based on CMB temperature. Significantly different values are obtained with calibrations that use a local distance scale, mainly connected to systematic differences in the value of the Hubble constant. Furthermore, it is suggested that future comprehensive cosmological parameter studies assuming the ΛCDM model include constraints on the vacuum density.