corner
corner

Phys. Rev. D 65, 125028 (2002) [7 pages]

Effect of the minimal length uncertainty relation on the density of states and the cosmological constant problem

Download: PDF (87 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Lay Nam Chang*, Djordje Minic, Naotoshi Okamura, and Tatsu Takeuchi§
Institute for Particle Physics and Astrophysics, Physics Department, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061

Received 9 January 2002; published 19 June 2002

We investigate the effect of the minimal length uncertainty relation, motivated by perturbative string theory, on the density of states in momentum space. The relation is implemented through the modified commutation relation [xi,pj]=iħ[(1+βp2)δij+βpipj]. We point out that this relation, which is an example of a UV/IR relation, implies the finiteness of the cosmological constant. While our result does not solve the cosmological constant problem, it does shed new light on the relation between this outstanding problem and UV/IR correspondence. We also point out that the blackbody radiation spectrum will be modified at higher frequencies, but the effect is too small to be observed in the cosmic microwave background spectrum.

© 2002 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.65.125028
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.65.125028
PACS:
98.80.Es, 02.40.Gh, 03.65.Sq, 98.70.Vc

*Electronic address: laynam@vt.edu

Electronic address: dminic@vt.edu

Electronic address: nokamura@vt.edu

§Electronic address: takeuchi@vt.edu