{
  "annotation_id": "4f2192d1-6516-444b-a734-155fdb4616e1",
  "date_created": "2026-03-02T18:01:11.500000Z",
  "date_modified": "2026-03-02T18:01:11.500000Z",
  "file_hash": "72fb6313b4ee99b7b0fda24cd20b55f58361f0f634fb016bf0981b6a6fa15665",
  "private": false,
  "record": {
    "abstract": "The two major goals in fundamental physics are: 1) Unification of all forces\nincorporating relativity and quantum theory, 2) Understanding the origin and\nevolution of the Universe as well as explaining the smallness of the\ncosmological constant.\n  Several efforts have been made in the last few decades towards achieving\nthese goals with some successes and failures. The current best theory we have\nfor unification of all forces is Superstring/M Theory. However current evidence\nsuggests our Universe is flat and accelerating. A Universe with a positive\ncosmological constant will have serious implications for string theory since\nthe S-Matrix cannot be well defined and Superstring/M Theory is only formulated\nin flat Minkowski background. Holographic principle provides a way out as shown\nby the AdS/CFT and dS/CFT correspondence, but it remains to be proved if it is\nvalid for our non-conformal, non-supersymmetric Universe. Aside from the issue\nof defining M-Theory in a de Sitter background, why the cosmological constant\nis so small remains puzzling and needs to be understood. The ``cosmological\nconstant problem\u0027\u0027 has brought physics to a standstill towards any major\ndevelopment and remains currently the most disturbing issue.\n  Conventional big bang cosmology has not yet produced a satisfactory\nexplanation of the small value of the cosmological constant. An attempt by\nSuperString/M Theory in this direction is given by the Ekpyrotic/Cyclic model.\n  The aim of this review is not to introduce any new concepts not already\nknown, but give an overview of current state of affairs in high energy physics,\nhighlighting some successes and failures and making some few suggestions on\nareas to focus to resolve some of these outstanding issues.",
    "arxiv_id": "physics/0608188",
    "authors": [
      "Edward Tetteh-Lartey"
    ],
    "categories": [
      "physics.pop-ph"
    ],
    "title": "Unification, the Big Bang, and the Cosmological Constant",
    "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0608188"
  },
  "schema_id": "dorsal/arxiv",
  "source": {
    "execution_id": "b40a73ad-d1a0-4b59-b4c7-6068cac58117",
    "id": "arXiv Dataset IDs",
    "type": "Model",
    "variant": "snapshot-2026-03-01",
    "version": "0.1.0"
  },
  "user_id": 1000002
}