Finite-Domain Vacuum Energy and the Cosmological Constant: Gravitational Consistency and the Quadratic Survival Function

This paper is part of a research program proposing that the cosmological constant arises not from total vacuum energy but from the finite-domain residual to which gravity actually couples. This paper develops the third component of a research program examining the consequences of finite-domain vacuum energy for the cosmological constant problem. The observed dark energy density is smaller than the naive quantum field theoretic estimate of vacuum energy by roughly 120 orders of magnitude. This discrepancy can be clarified by distinguishing bulk vacuum energy defined over an infinite-domain idealization from the residual vacuum energy gravitationally accessible within a finite causal region. The present work…