  We develop a cosmological theory in which the evolution of the universe is
controlled by the cosmological constant and dominated by the associated vacuum
energy. The universe starts as a classical de Sitter space with an infinite
effective vacuum energy density, which decreases subsequently like 1/t^3. The
corresponding Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) scale factor also decreases over
time, showing that the common assumption that it describes the expansion of the
universe is incorrect and should be abandoned. Instead, the (cubic) expansion
of the universe is needed to satisfy energy conservation. Once the vacuum
energy density has decreased to the Planck level the first elementary particles
can be created through a direct conversion of vacuum energy. After this epoch,
the enormous kinetic energy enables a quick magnification of the number of
particles through ordinary production processes in tandem with the expansion of
space.
  The dominance of vacuum (dark) energy is supposed to persist into later
epochs, which enables a perturbative treatment of matter and radiation leading
to linear equations, which replace the usual FRW equations. The presence of
matter changes the vacuum metric, inducing a secondary matter term which might
explain the phenomenon of dark matter. Together with a similar induced
radiation term, it provides a possible explanation for the recent acceleration
of the expansion of the universe. The theory unifies particle physics and
cosmology by expressing particle physics units in terms of the gravitational
and cosmological constant. This relationship also explains a number of
numerical coincidences which have long puzzled physicists.
