Lambda, the Fifth Foundational Constant Considered by Einstein

Abstract

The cosmological constant, usually named Lambda, was introduced by Einstein in 1917 and abandoned by him as his biggest "blunder". It currently seems to make a spectacular comeback in the framework of the new cosmological standard model. One will explain why, together with the Planck's constant, the Boltzmann's constant, the celerity of light and the Newton's constant, also considered by Einstein, the cosmological constant may play a foundational role in the conceptual framework, an in the metrological framework a role comparable with the one attributed to Avogadro constant

Comments: 25 pages, 3 figures. Text version of an invited talk delivered at the BIPM symposium on fundamental constants in September 2017. Accepted for publication in Metrologia. Some corrections recommended by the referees of Metrologia made in the text and the references