Back-Reaction of Cosmological Perturbations in the Infinite Wavelength Approximation

Abstract

Cosmological perturbations in an expanding universe back-react on the space-time in which they propagate. Calculations to lowest non-vanishing order in perturbation theory indicate that super-Hubble-scale fluctuations act as a negative and time-dependent cosmological constant and may thus lead to a dynamical relaxation mechanism for the cosmological constant. Here we present a simple model of how to understand this effect from the perspective of homogeneous and isotropic cosmology. Our analysis, however, also shows that an effective spatial curvature is induced, indicating potential problems in realizing the dynamical relaxation of the cosmological constant by means of back-reaction.