358 | Solo: Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constant

2026-06-22 · 120 min · episode 358 · 7 entities

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→ discusses Physics concept

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mentioned Science concept

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mentioned Physics concept

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evidence rules-v4
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mentioned Solo: Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constant concept

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358 | Solo: Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constant
discusses Science concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Science
discusses Physics concept

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evidence rules-v4
Feed category: Physics

persons 2

mentioned Sean Carroll person

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Feed author/publisher: Sean Carroll
hosted by Sean Carroll person

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evidence rules-v4
Feed author/publisher: Sean Carroll

Episode description as stored

The most surprising discovery in fundamental physics during my career as a scientist was undoubtedly the acceleration of the universe , announced in 1998. The most straightforward explanation for these observations is a positive cosmological constant, or vacuum energy. I talk about the origin of the idea with Einstein, how quantum physicists started to think about it and understand the "cosmological constant problem," as well as how its discovery also raised the "coincidence problem." This is the first of two connected solo episodes; the next will be on theories of dark energy that are not the cosmological constant. Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2026/06/22/358-solo-vacuum-energy-and-the-cosmological-constant/ Support Mindscape on Patreon .