Unimodular relativity and cosmological constant

Unimodular relativity is a theory of gravity and space–time with a fixed absolute space–time volume element, the modulus, which we suppose is proportional to the number of microscopic modules in that volume element. In general relativity an arbitrary fixed measure can be imposed as a gauge condition, while in unimodular relativity it is determined by the events in the volume. Since this seems to break general covariance, some have suggested that it permits a nonzero covariant divergence of the material stress-energy tensor and a variable cosmological “constant.” In Lagrangian unimodular relativity, however, even with higher derivatives of the gravitational field in the dynamics, the usual covariant continuity holds and the cosmological constant is still a constant of integration of the gravitational field equations.