Dark Energy, Inertia and Mach's Principle

Abstract

Mach's Principle says that a particle's inertia is due to some interaction of that particle with all the other masses in the universe. Here we explore the possibility of the gravitational interaction energy of the background quantum vacuum energy playing the role of a global Higg's field (described by a varying cosmological constant) entirely contributing to the local inertial masses of particles in the spirit of Mach's principle.