Dark Energy from Cosmological Energy Conservation

Abstract

The value of the gravitational wave energy density is unknown. Current progress in gravitational wave detection suggests that the energy density of the stochastic gravitational wave background (SGWB) will be estimated in the next decades. A derivation of its value is presented under the assumption that energy lost due to cosmic redshift is fully responsible for the energy gained by the cosmological constant in the expanding universe. This unknown nonlocal mechanism of energy conservation on the cosmic scale could explain dark energy and hint at a property of a theory of quantum gravity.