The large-scale structure of vacuum

Abstract

The vacuum state in quantum field theory is known to exhibit an important number of fundamental physical features. In this work we explore the possibility that this state could also present a nontrivial spacetime structure on large scales. In particular, we will show that by imposing the renormalized vacuum energy–momentum tensor to be conserved and compatible with cosmological observations, the vacuum energy of sufficiently heavy fields behaves at late times as nonrelativistic matter rather than as a cosmological constant. In this limit, the vacuum state supports perturbations whose speed of sound is negligible and accordingly allows the growth of structures in the vacuum energy itself. This large-scale structure of vacuum could seed the formation of galaxies and clusters very much in the same way as cold dark matter does.