Tufts/CfA/MIT Cosmology Seminar, at Tufts:

Tuesday, December 12, 2006
2:30 pm
Robinson Hall, Room 250
Refreshments at 2:00 in Knipp Library, Room 251

"The Scale of Gravity and the Cosmological Constant Within a Landscape"


Michael Graesser
Rutgers University

Abstract:

It is possible that the scale of gravity, parameterized by the apparent Planck mass, may obtain different values within different universes in an encompassing multiverse. I discuss the range over which the Planck mass may scan while still satisfying anthropic constraints. Within these constraints, I then discuss the likelihood to observe our value of the Planck mass, and argue that here there may be another example of the runaway inflation problem discussed in recent literature. I also show that the window for the Planck mass significantly weakens the anthropic constraint upon the cosmological constant when both are allowed to vary over a landscape.

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