Small cosmological constant from the QCD trace anomaly?

Universal Definition of the Nonconformal Trace Anomaly

We show that there exists a generalized, universal notion of the trace anomaly for theories which are not conformally invariant at the classical level. The definition is suitable for any regularization scheme and clearly states to what extent the classical equations of motion should be used, thus resolving existing controversies surrounding previous proposals. Additionally, we exhibit the link between our definition of the anomaly and the functional Jacobian arising from a Weyl transformation.

Chiral mass-gap in curved space

We discuss a new type of QCD phenomenon induced in curved space. In the QCD vacuum, a mass-gap of Dirac fermions is attributed to the spontaneous breaking of chiral symmetry. If the curvature is positive large, the chiral condensate melts but a chiral invariant mass-gap can still remain, which we name the chiral gap effect in curved space. This leads to decoupling of quark deconfinement which implies a view of black holes surrounded by a first-order QCD phase transition.