Towards a solution of the cosmological constant problem

The standard model of elementary particle physics and the theory of general relativity can be extended by the introduction of a vacuum variable which is responsible for the near vanishing of the present cosmological constant (vacuum energy density). The explicit realization of this vacuum variable can be via a three-form gauge field, an aether-type velocity field, or any other field appropriate for the description of the equilibrium state corresponding to the Lorentz-invariant quantum vacuum. The extended theory has, without fine-tuning, a Minkowski-type solution of the field equations with spacetime-independent fields and provides, therefore, a possible solution of the main cosmological constant problem.