Vacuum energy in a noncommutative-geometry setting

Abstract

It has recently been proposed that vacuum energy is zero in spite of the quantum-field fluctuations that occur everywhere, even at absolute zero. The implication is that dark energy must have a different origin, unrelated to vacuum energy. It is proposed in this paper that noncommutative geometry, an offshoot of string theory, may provide such an origin due to its ability to account for the accelerated expansion.