2026-07-072026-07-07http://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/188893A semi-classical analysis of vacuum energy in the expanding spacetime suggests that the cosmological term decays with time, with a concomitant matter production. For early times we find, in Planck units, $Λ\approx H^4$, where H is the Hubble parameter. The corresponding cosmological solution has no initial singularity, existing since an infinite past. During an infinitely long period we have a quasi-de Sitter, inflationary universe, with $H \approx 1$. However, at a given time, the expansion undertakes a phase transition, with H and $Λ$ decreasing to nearly zero in a few Planck times, producing a huge amount of radiation. On the other hand, the late-time scenario is similar to the standard model, with the radiation phase followed by a dust era, which tends asymptotically to a de Sitter universe, with vacuum dominating again.This essay received an "honorable mention" in the 2006 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research FoundationGeneral Relativity and Quantum CosmologyAstrophysicsHigh Energy Physics - Theorytext