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VERSION:2.0
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METHOD:PUBLISH
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTAMP:20260920T000543Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20171023T170203Z
DTSTART:20171026T194500Z
DTEND:20171026T204500Z
UID:event1851@bu.edu
URL:http://physics.bu.edu/internal/events/show/1851
SUMMARY:"Relaxing the Cosmological Constant"
DESCRIPTION:Featuring Lasma Alberte\, ICTP at Trieste\n\nPart of the HET Se
	minar Series.\n\nWe propose a technically natural scenario whereby an initi
	ally large cosmological constant (c.c.) is relaxed down to the observed val
	ue due to the dynamics of a scalar evolving on a very shallow potential. Th
	e model crucially relies on a sector that violates the null energy conditio
	n (NEC) and gets activated only when the Hubble rate becomes sufficiently s
	mall --- of the order of the present one. As a result of NEC violation\, th
	is low-energy universe evolves into inflation\, followed by reheating and t
	he standard Big Bang cosmology. The symmetries of the theory force the c.c.
	 to be the same before and after the NEC-violating phase\, so that a late-t
	ime observer sees an effective c.c. of the correct magnitude. Importantly\,
	 our model allows neither for eternal inflation nor for a set of possible v
	alues of dark energy\, the latter fixed by the parameters of the theory.
LOCATION:PRB 565\, 3 Cummington Mall\, 02215
STATUS:CONFIRMED
CLASS:PUBLIC
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