Wiktionary
n. (context physics English) A term added by http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert%20Einstein to his equations of general relativity in order to account for a supposed static universe.
WordNet
n. an arbitrary constant in the equations of general relativity theory
Wikipedia
In cosmology, the cosmological constant (usually denoted by the Greek capital letter lambda: Λ) is the value of the energy density of the vacuum of space. It was originally introduced by Albert Einstein in 1917 as an addition to his theory of general relativity to "hold back gravity" and achieve a static universe, which was the accepted view at the time. Einstein abandoned the concept after Hubble's 1929 discovery that all galaxies outside the Local Group (the group that contains the Milky Way Galaxy) are moving away from each other, implying an overall expanding universe. From 1929 until the early 1990s, most cosmology researchers assumed the cosmological constant to be zero.
Since the 1990s, several developments in observational cosmology, especially the discovery of the accelerating universe from distant supernovae in 1998 (in addition to independent evidence from the cosmic microwave background and large galaxy redshift surveys), have shown that around 68% of the mass–energy density of the universe can be attributed to dark energy. While dark energy is poorly understood at a fundamental level, the main required properties of dark energy are that it functions as a type of anti-gravity, it dilutes much more slowly than matter as the universe expands, and it clusters much more weakly than matter, or perhaps not at all. The cosmological constant is the simplest possible form of dark energy since it is constant in both space and time, and this leads to the current standard model of cosmology known as the Lambda-CDM model, which provides a good fit to many cosmological observations as of 2016.
Usage examples of "cosmological constant".
For this reason, Einstein revisited his equations and modified them by introducing something known as a cosmological constant, an additional term that allowed him to avoid this prediction and once again bask in the comfort of a static universe.
A good example of this was Einstein, who called the cosmological constant, which he introduced when he was trying to make a static model of the universe, the biggest mistake of his life.
The energy of the field in those regions would behave like a cosmological constant.
If history is any guide, many of us might live to see practical consequences of a non-zero cosmological constant.
Everything was described, gravity was a simple ungauging of the electromagnetic field, inertia was due to the vacuum energy fluctuations and something similar to Mach's principle, renormalization of the Standard Model wasn't required, and Einstein's Cosmological Constant when moved to the right rest frame turned out to be proportional to Hubble's constant for the expansion of spacetime.
Later he changed his mind and threw the cosmological constant out, complaining that he'd been foolish to include it in the first place.
Einstein sensed the existence of this Natural Law in assuming his Cosmological Constant.