Cosmological constant - the weight of the vacuum

Introduction......Page 3
The many faces of the cosmological constant......Page 4
A brief history of cosmological constant......Page 8
Kinematics of the Friedmann model......Page 11
Dynamics of the Friedmann model......Page 14
Composition of the universe......Page 15
Geometrical features of a universe with a cosmological constant......Page 18
 Evidence for a non-zero cosmological constant......Page 21
Observational evidence for accelerating universe......Page 22
Age of the universe and cosmological constant......Page 29
Gravitational lensing and the cosmological constant......Page 32
Other geometrical tests......Page 33
Models with evolving cosmological ``constant"......Page 34
Parametrized equation of state and cosmological observations......Page 36
Theoretical models with time dependent dark energy: cosmic degeneracy......Page 39
Structure formation in the universe......Page 44
Linear evolution of perturbations......Page 46
Nonlinear growth of perturbations......Page 51
Structure formation and constraints on dark energy......Page 54
CMBR anisotropies......Page 57
Cosmological constant as a Lagrange multiplier......Page 62
Cosmological constant as a constant of integration......Page 63
Cosmological constant as a stochastic variable......Page 64
Anthropic interpretation of the cosmological constant......Page 68
Relaxation mechanisms for the cosmological constant......Page 70
Geometrical structure of the de Sitter spacetime......Page 73
Horizons, temperature and entropy......Page 78
The connection between thermodynamics and spacetime geometry......Page 81
Temperature of horizons......Page 85
Entropy and energy of de Sitter spacetime......Page 86
Conceptual issues in de Sitter thermodynamics......Page 93
Cosmological constant and the string theory......Page 98
References......Page 100