Testing the running of the cosmological constant with type la supernovae at high z -: art. no. 006

Within the quantum field theory context the idea of a 'cosmological constant' (CC) evolving with time looks quite natural as it just reflects the change of the vacuum energy with the typical energy of the universe. In a particular frame that we have considered previously, a 'running CC' at low energies may arise from generic quantum effects near the Planck scale, M-P, provided there is a smooth decoupling of all massive particles below M-P. In this work we further develop the cosmological consequences of a 'running CC' by addressing the accelerated evolution of the universe within that model. The rate of change of the CC stays slow, without fine-tuning, and is comparable to (HMP2)-M-2. It can be described by a single parameter, nu, that can be determined from already planned experiments using SNe Ia at high z. The range of allowed values for nu follows mainly from nucleosynthesis restrictions. Present samples of SNe Ia can not yet distinguish between a 'constant' CC or a 'running' one. The numerical simulations presented in this work show that SNAP can probe the predicted variation of the CC either ruling out this idea or confirming the evolution hereafter expected.