{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,10,12]],"date-time":"2025-10-12T03:45:47Z","timestamp":1760240747392,"version":"build-2065373602"},"reference-count":34,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"9","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,5]],"date-time":"2019-09-05T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1567641600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Symmetry"],"abstract":"<jats:p>We present an extension of general relativity in which the cosmological constant becomes dynamical and turns out to be conjugate to the Chern\u2013Simons invariant of the Ashtekar connection on a spatial slicing. The latter has been proposed Soo and Smolin as a time variable for quantum gravity: the Chern\u2013Simons time. In the quantum theory, the inverse cosmological constant and Chern\u2013Simons time will then become conjugate operators. The \u201cKodama state\u201d gets a new interpretation as a family of transition functions. These results imply an uncertainty relation between \u039b and Chern\u2013Simons time; the consequences of which will be discussed elsewhere.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/sym11091130","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,6]],"date-time":"2019-09-06T02:59:22Z","timestamp":1567738762000},"page":"1130","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":15,"title":["The Quantum Cosmological Constant"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Stephon","family":"Alexander","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Department of Physics, Brown University, Providence, RI 02906, USA"}]},{"given":"Joao","family":"Magueijo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Theoretical Physics Group, The Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College, Prince Consort Rd., London SW7 2BZ, UK"}]},{"given":"Lee","family":"Smolin","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, ON N2J 2Y5, Canada"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2019,9,5]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"289","DOI":"10.1016\/0550-3213(95)00222-E","article-title":"The Chern\u2013Simons Invariant as the Natural Time Variable for Classical and Quantum Cosmology","volume":"449","author":"Smolin","year":"1995","journal-title":"Nucl. 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