Decay of cosmological constant in self-consistent inflation

The symmetric vacuum state in gauge theories with spontaneous symmetry breaking is symmetric in both internal and space-time variables. We consider this vacuum state as a Bose condensate of physical Higgs particles, defined over an asymmetric vacuum state, and identify the energy density of their self-interaction with the cosmological constant in the Einstein equation. In this picture, spontaneous symmetry breaking proceeds as decay. Decoherence of coherent oscillations of a scalar field in the course of decay provides the effective mechanism for damping of coherent oscillations, leading to the regime of slow evaporation of a Bose condensate. This mechanism is responsible for self-consistent inflation without fine-tuning of the potential parameters. The physical self-consistency in this model is provided by incorporating the origin of the cosmological constant in the dynamics of spontaneous breaking of particle symmetries. Received: 28 September 2000 / Revised version: 16 January 2001 / Published online: 25 April 2001