Turning the Cosmological Constant into Black Holes

Abstract

It is known that there is a quantum mechanical tunneling process which, through nucleation of a membrane, induces a transition between two de Sitter spaces, lowering the cosmological constant. It is shown in this paper that a different, new, membrane nucleation process exists, which, in addition to lowering the cosmological constant, leaves a black hole behind. Once a black hole is present, the relaxation of the cosmological constant may proceed via an analog of the old process, which decreases the black hole horizon area, or via the new process, which increases it.