Resolve the vacuum energy catastrophe (cosmological constant problem)

Determine a resolution to the vacuum energy catastrophe by reconciling the quantum field theory vacuum energy estimate of approximately 10^8 GeV^4 with the cosmological upper bound of 2.5 × 10^-47 GeV^4 inferred from microwave background observations, thereby explaining the cosmological constant problem consistently with quantum field theory and cosmology.

Background

The authors discuss the severe mismatch between the vacuum energy density predicted by quantum field theory and the tiny value inferred from cosmological observations (Planck Collaboration), emphasizing that this discrepancy—on the order of 55 magnitudes—poses a fundamental challenge to current theory.

They note the historical significance of zero-point energy in stabilizing matter and the successes of renormalization, while stressing that the cosmological constant problem remains unsolved and central to understanding the universe’s large-scale structure and the foundations of quantum field theory.

References

The vacuum energy catastrophe is as serious as and maybe even more serious than the ultraviolet catastrophe that had plagued classical black-body radiation theory given by the Rayleigh-Jeans law. We do not yet know the answer to such questions.

— From Faraday and Maxwell to Quantum Physics. The later story of the Electromagnetic Vector Potential (2509.04486 - Choy et al., 31 Aug 2025) in Section 1: Introduction