2 00 3 Phenomenology of effective gravity

The cosmological constant is not an absolute constant. The gravitating part of the vacuum energy is adjusted to the energy density of matter and to other types of the perturbations of the vacuum. We discuss how the vacuum energy responds (i) to the curvature of space in the Einstein closed Universe; (ii) to the expansion rate in the de Sitter Universe; and (iii) to the rotation in the Gödel Universe. In all these steady state Universes, the gravitating vacuum energy is zero in the absence of the perturbation, and is proportional to the energy density of perturbation. This is in a full agreement with the thermo-dynamic Gibbs-Duhem relation applicable to any quantum vacuum. It demonstrates that (i) the cosmological constant is not huge, since according to the Gibbs-Duhem relation the contribution of zero point fluctuations to the vacuum energy is cancelled by the trans-Planckian degrees of freedom; (ii) the cosmological constant is non-zero, since the perturbations of the vacuum state induce the non-zero vacuum energy; and (iii) the gravitating vacuum energy is on the order of the energy density of matter and/or of other perturbations. We also consider the vacuum response to the non-steady-state perturbations. In this case the Einstein equations are modified to include the non-covariant corrections , which are responsible for the relaxation of the cosmological constant. The connection to the quintessence is demonstrated.