Running vacuum interacting with dark matter or with running gravitational coupling. Phenomenological implications

Abstract

The cosmological term, $\Lambda$, in Einstein's equations is an essential ingredient of the `concordance' $\Lambda$CDM model of cosmology. In this mini-review presentation, we assess the possibility that $\Lambda$ can be a dynamical quantity, more specifically a `running quantity' in quantum field theory in curved spacetime. A great deal of phenomenological works have shown in the last few years that this option (sometimes accompanied with a running gravitational coupling) may cure some of the tensions afflicting the $\Lambda$CDM. The `running vacuum models' (RVM's) are characterized by the vacuum energy density, $\rho_{\rm vac}$, being a series of (even) powers of the Hubble rate and its time derivatives. Here we describe the technical quantum field theoretical origin of the RVM structure in FLRW spacetime, which goes well-beyond the original semi-qualitative renormalization group arguments. In particular, we compute the renormalized energy-momentum tensor using the adiabatic regularization procedure and show that it leads to the RVM form. In other words, we find that the renormalized vacuum energy density, $\rho_{vac}(H)$ evolves as a (constant) additive term plus a leading dynamical components ${\cal O}(H^2)$. There are also ${\cal O}(H^4)$ contributions, which can be relevant for the early universe. Remarkably enough, the renormalized $\rho_{\rm vac}(H)$ does not exhibit dangerous terms proportional to the quartic power of the masses ($\sim m^4$) of the fields. It is well-known that these terms have been the main source of trouble since they are responsible for the extreme fine tuning and ultimately for the cosmological constant problem. In this context, the current $\rho_{vac}(H)$ is dominated by a constant term, as it should be, but it acquires a mild dynamical component $\sim \nu H^2$ ($|\nu|\ll1$) which makes the RVM to mimic quintessence.