Quantum relaxation dynamics of vacuum energy from pre-geometric gravity

We investigate a quantum relaxation mechanism for the vacuum energy density arising from the spontaneous symmetry breaking (SSB) SO(1,4)→ SO(1,3) S O ( 1 , 4 ) → S O ( 1 , 3 ) , driven by a Higgs field Φ Φ in a MacDowell–Mansouri pre-geometric gravity framework. The theory predicts a countably infinite set of vacua, corresponding to distinct topological sectors, for a periodic Higgs potential with intervening barriers. This structure gives rise to a series of dualities and see-saw relations connecting fundamental scales – the Planck mass and the Cosmological Constant – to topological parameters such as the Gauss–Bonnet coupling and the θ θ -term, all of which emerge only after SSB. A striking consequence is the quantization of the vacuum energy into discrete levels. Starting from a vacuum expectation value Φ = v₁ ⟨ Φ ⟩ = v 1 associated with a large vacuum energy, the system evolves via quantum tunneling through the infinite landscape of minima. Crucially, we demonstrate that the transition probability is maximized for the ordered sequence Λ ₁> ⋯> Λ ₖ > ⋯ Λ 1 > ⋯ > Λ k > ⋯ , where the Cosmological Constant decreases monotonically toward the asymptotic attractor Λ _∞ = 0 Λ ∞ = 0 .