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When Dark Energy Has a Shear: From Noise to ΛCDM

Dark Energy as a Viscoelastic Stochastic Medium

The cosmological dark sector can be understood as a relativistic viscoelastic medium coupled to gravity via a stochastic Einstein–Langevin equation. ΛCDM emerges as a special limit of this more general framework.

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1. Emergent Gravity, Elasticity, and Dissipation

1.1 Elasticity of Spacetime

Gravity may be emergent rather than fundamental:

  • Jacobson (1995): Einstein equations as a thermodynamic equation of state, $\delta Q = T dS$.
  • Padmanabhan: Spacetime behaves like an elastic solid; diffeomorphisms are deformations; horizons are defects carrying area entropy.
  • Sakharov: Einstein–Hilbert action arises from induced metrical elasticity of quantum vacuum fluctuations.

In this view, as we previously discussed, spacetime is elastic at long wavelengths, with an effective modulus set by vacuum energy:

$$Y_\Lambda = \frac{\Lambda c^4}{8\pi G} = \rho_\Lambda c^2.$$

This modulus corresponds to a "cosmic Young's modulus," giving spacetime a stiffness set by the cosmological constant.

1.2 Bulk Viscosity and Cosmic Acceleration

A homogeneous isotropic fluid with bulk viscosity produces an effective negative pressure:

$$\Pi = -\zeta \theta, \quad \theta = \nabla_\mu u^\mu.$$

Causal formulations (Müller–Israel–Stewart or BDNK) ensure:

  • Positive entropy production: $\nabla_\mu s^\mu = \zeta \theta^2 / T \ge 0$
  • Causality: finite relaxation time $\tau_\Pi$
  • Stability: de Sitter solution is a stable attractor

A de Sitter–consistent form is:

$$\zeta \sim \frac{H c^2}{8\pi G}.$$

1.3 Stochastic Stress

Integrating out quantum degrees of freedom leads to a stochastic stress tensor $\xi_{\mu\nu}$ in the Einstein–Langevin equation:

$$G_{\mu\nu} + \Lambda g_{\mu\nu} = 8 \pi G (T^{\rm(el)}{\mu\nu} + T^{\rm(bulk)}{\mu\nu}) + 8 \pi G \xi_{\mu\nu}.$$

Key properties:

  • $\langle \xi_{\mu\nu} \rangle = 0$ (zero mean)
  • $\langle \xi_{\mu\nu}(x) \xi_{\alpha\beta}(y) \rangle = N_{\mu\nu\alpha\beta}(x,y)$ (encodes quantum fluctuations)
  • Noise is tied to horizon temperature $T_{dS} = \hbar H / 2\pi k_B$ via fluctuation–dissipation

2. Covariant Viscoelastic Framework

2.1 Elastic Sector

Relativistic elasticity is captured by scalar fields $\phi^I$ labeling internal material coordinates:

$$\mathcal{L}{\rm el} = -F(B^{IJ}), \quad B^{IJ} = g^{\mu\nu} \partial\mu \phi^I \partial_\nu \phi^J.$$

This structure:

  • Spontaneously breaks spatial diffeomorphisms
  • Linearization yields Hooke-like response
  • Modulus scales with $\rho_\Lambda c^2$
  • Produces phonon-like excitations in the dark sector

The dark sector becomes a medium that can resist compression and shear, not just expand passively.

2.2 Bulk Viscosity Sector

The viscous fluid stress is:

$$T^{\rm(bulk)}{\mu\nu} = (\varepsilon + p + \Pi) u\mu u_\nu + (p + \Pi) \Delta_{\mu\nu}, \quad \Delta_{\mu\nu} = g_{\mu\nu} + u_\mu u_\nu.$$

Causal evolution via Israel-Stewart:

$$\tau_\Pi u^\alpha \nabla_\alpha \Pi + \Pi = -\zeta \theta.$$

This ensures:

  • No superluminal propagation
  • Positive entropy production
  • Stable attractor dynamics

2.3 Shear and Viscoelasticity

Shear stresses obey a Maxwell-type frequency-dependent response:

$$\pi_{\mu\nu}(\omega) = - \frac{2\eta}{1 - i \omega \tau_M} \sigma_{\mu\nu}.$$

This captures the dual nature of the medium:

  • Low frequency ($\omega\tau_M \ll 1$): viscous, fluid-like
  • High frequency ($\omega\tau_M \gg 1$): elastic, solid-like

Real materials are neither perfectly elastic nor perfectly viscous—the dark sector is no exception.

3. Minimal Scales and Quantum Consistency

3.1 Planck–de Sitter Seesaw

Define two fundamental quantum masses (in natural units):

$$m_s = H_\Lambda \quad \text{(local quantum of spacetime)}, \quad m_0 = \frac{c^2}{G} \ell_\Lambda \quad \text{(CEH mass)}.$$

These satisfy a UV–IR duality:

$$M_p^2 = m_0 m_s$$

This leads to:

  • Minimal displacement: $\Delta x \sim \sqrt{L_p \ell_\Lambda}$
  • Connection between diffusion, stochastic mechanics, and horizon microphysics
  • Natural emergence of quantum uncertainty at cosmological scales

3.2 Horizon Thermodynamics

The cosmological event horizon is a genuine thermodynamic object:

  • Brown–York energy: $E_0 = 2 k_B T_{dS} S_{dS} = 2 m_{CEH} c^2$
  • Entropy density: $s = S_{dS}/V = (3/4) k_B c^3 / (\hbar G \ell_\Lambda)$
  • Shear viscosity saturates KSS bound: $\eta / s = \hbar / 4\pi k_B$

These are not analogies, they are exact thermodynamic relations.

3.3 Quantum Diffusion Limit

Vacuum kinematic viscosity satisfies:

$$\nu_{\rm vac} = D = \frac{l_\Lambda}{2} c, \quad \nu_{\rm vac} m_s = \frac{\hbar}{2}.$$

This is Nelson's quantum diffusion relation, tying quantum uncertainty to coarse-grained gravitational dynamics.

The diffusion constant is not arbitrary, it is fixed by quantum mechanics and the horizon scale.

4. Cosmological Implications

4.1 Modified FLRW Dynamics

On a homogeneous FLRW background:

$$\dot \rho + 3 H (\rho + p + \Pi) = 0, \quad \Pi = -\zeta \theta.$$

Observable effects:

  • Bulk viscosity → scale-dependent suppression of structure growth ($f\sigma_8(z)$)
  • Shear viscosity → attenuation of gravitational waves
  • Stochastic stress → low-$\ell$ metric fluctuations in the CMB

All controlled by a small set of physically interpretable parameters: viscosities, relaxation times, and elastic sound speeds.

4.2 ΛCDM as a Limit

Standard ΛCDM is recovered by taking the following limits:

  1. No excitations: $F(B^{IJ}) \to F_{\rm vac} = \Lambda/(8\pi G)$

    • No phonons or stresses beyond vacuum energy

  2. Zero dissipation: $\zeta \to 0, \quad \eta \to 0$

    • No bulk or shear viscosity

  3. No stochastic fluctuations: $\xi^{\rm lw}_{\mu\nu} \to 0$

  4. Pressureless matter: $p_m \approx 0$

Under these conditions, the equations reduce exactly to:

$$H^2 = \frac{8\pi G}{3}\rho_m + \frac{\Lambda}{3}, \qquad \dot\rho_m + 3H\rho_m = 0$$

ΛCDM is not discarded—it is revealed as the rigid, noiseless, zero-viscosity limit.

5. Emergent Limits and Phenomenology

Limit Dominant Sector Physical Interpretation
Classical GR Elastic Spacetime as equilibrium solid, $\zeta, \xi \to 0$
DE / dS Viscous Accelerated expansion, $\Pi=-\zeta \theta$, horizon thermodynamics
Quantum   Stochastic Metric fluctuations, Einstein–Langevin dynamics, UV–IR seesaw

Observational Signatures

  • Modified growth rate $f\sigma_8(z)$ at low redshift
  • Frequency-dependent GW damping from shear viscosity
  • Large-angle stochastic CMB fluctuations from $\xi_{\mu\nu}$
  • Possible small non-Gaussianities from fluctuation–dissipation coupling

6. Conceptual Summary

The Big Picture

  • Dark energy is not a fundamental particle or field.
  • Spacetime behaves as a viscoelastic, stochastic medium.
  • ΛCDM is the zero-excitation, zero-dissipation, noiseless equilibrium limit.

The Mechanisms

  • Coarse-graining of quantum gravitational degrees of freedom → stochastic stress
  • Elastic and viscous properties → material-like behavior of spacetime
  • Horizons encode thermodynamic constraints, linking causality, viscosity, and entropy production
  • Minimal scales ($L_p, \ell_\Lambda, m_s, m_0$) enforce Planck–de Sitter UV–IR consistency

The Unification

This framework unifies:

  1. Emergent gravity (Jacobson, Padmanabhan, Sakharov)
  2. Viscoelasticity (Maxwell, Israel-Stewart)
  3. Stochastic fluctuations (Einstein-Langevin)
  4. Horizon thermodynamics (Gibbons-Hawking, Brown-York)
  5. ΛCDM phenomenology (as a special limit)

into a single coherent picture.

Wrap

The accelerating Universe is not driven by a mysterious "dark energy substance." Instead:

Cosmic acceleration emerges from the viscoelastic response of spacetime itself to quantum fluctuations, with dissipative properties constrained by horizon thermodynamics and UV-IR quantum consistency.

This is how spacetime itself can have material properties, even if spacetime is not a thing. Not as a substance added to the Universe, but as the emergent collective behaviour of gravitational degrees of freedom at the horizon.

ΛCDM works so well because our Universe is close to this equilibrium limit, but not exactly at it. The deviations are small, testable, and reveal the quantum-gravitational microstructure of spacetime.


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