Vacuum energy as the origin of the gravitational constant

We develop a geometro-dynamical approach to the cosmological constant problem (CCP) by invoking a geometry induced by the energy-momentum tensor of vacuum, matter and radiation. The construction, which utilizes the dual role of the metric tensor that it structures both the spacetime manifold and energy-momentum tensor of the vacuum, gives rise to a framework in which the vacuum energy induced by matter and radiation, instead of gravitating, facilitates the generation of the gravitational constant. The non-vacuum sources comprising matter and radiation gravitate normally. At the level of classical gravitation, the mechanism deadens the CCP yet quantum gravitational effects, if strong, can keep it existent.Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel-Forschungspreise and Turkish Academy of Science