Thermodynamics via Creation from Nothing: Limiting the Cosmological Constant Landscape

Abstract

The creation of a quantum Universe is described by a {\em density matrix} which yields an ensemble of universes with the cosmological constant limited to a bounded range $\Lambda_{\rm min}\leq \Lambda \leq \Lambda_{\rm max}$. The domain $\Lambda<\Lambda_{\rm min}$ is ruled out by a cosmological bootstrap requirement (the self-consistent back reaction of hot matter). The upper cutoff results from the quantum effects of vacuum energy and the conformal anomaly mediated by a special ghost-avoidance renormalization. The cutoff $\Lambda_{\rm max}$ establishes a new quantum scale -- the accumulation point of an infinite sequence of garland-type instantons. The dependence of the cosmological constant range on particle phenomenology suggests a possible dynamical selection mechanism for the landscape of string vacua.