Search results for "Cosmological Constant"
showing 10 items of 54 documents
Gravity, Non-Commutative Geometry and the Wodzicki Residue
1993
We derive an action for gravity in the framework of non-commutative geometry by using the Wodzicki residue. We prove that for a Dirac operator $D$ on an $n$ dimensional compact Riemannian manifold with $n\geq 4$, $n$ even, the Wodzicki residue Res$(D^{-n+2})$ is the integral of the second coefficient of the heat kernel expansion of $D^{2}$. We use this result to derive a gravity action for commutative geometry which is the usual Einstein Hilbert action and we also apply our results to a non-commutative extension which, is given by the tensor product of the algebra of smooth functions on a manifold and a finite dimensional matrix algebra. In this case we obtain gravity with a cosmological co…
Confronting the IR Fixed Point Cosmology with High Redshift Observations
2004
We use high-redshift type Ia supernova and compact radio source data in order to test the infrared (IR) fixed point model of the late Universe which was proposed recently. It describes a cosmology with a time dependent cosmological constant and Newton constant whose dynamics arises from an underlying renormalization group flow near an IR-attractive fixed point. Without any finetuning or quintessence field it yields $\Omega_{\rm M}=\Omega_{\Lambda}=1/2$. Its characteristic $t^{4/3}$-dependence of the scale factor leads to a distance-redshift relation whose predictions are compared both to the supernova and to the radio source data. According to the $\chi^2$ test, the fixed point model reprod…
Why the Cosmological Constant Seems to Hardly Care About Quantum Vacuum Fluctuations: Surprises From Background Independent Coarse Graining
2020
International audience; Background Independence is a sine qua non for every satisfactory theory of Quantum Gravity. In particular if one tries to establish a corresponding notion of Wilsonian renormalization, or coarse graining, it presents a major conceptual and technical difficulty usually. In this paper we adopt the approach of the gravitational Effective Average Action and demonstrate that generically coarse graining in Quantum Gravity and in standard field theories on a non-dynamical spacetime are profoundly different. By means of a concrete example, which in connection with the cosmological constant problem is also interesting in its own right, we show that the surprising and sometime…
Model independent constraints on mass-varying neutrino scenarios
2009
Models of dark energy in which neutrinos interact with the scalar field supposed to be responsible for the acceleration of the Universe usually imply a variation of the neutrino masses on cosmological time scales. In this work we propose a parametrization for the neutrino mass variation that captures the essentials of those scenarios and allows one to constrain them in a model independent way, that is, without resorting to any particular scalar field model. Using WMAP 5 yr data combined with the matter power spectrum of SDSS and 2dFGRS, the limit on the present value of the neutrino mass is m(0) equivalent to m(nu)(z = 0) 0), totally consistent with no mass variation. These stringent bounds…
Spherical symmetric dust collapse in a Vector-Tensor gravity
2018
There is a viable vector-tensor gravity (VTG) theory, whose vector field produces repulsive forces leading to important effects. In the background universe, the effect of these forces is an accelerated expansion identical to that produced by vacuum energy (cosmological constant). Here, we prove that another of these effects arises for great enough collapsing masses which lead to Schwarzschild black holes and singularities in general relativity (GR). For these masses, pressure becomes negligible against gravitational attraction and the complete collapse cannot be stopped in the context of GR; however, in VTG, a strong gravitational repulsion could stop the falling of the shells towards the s…
Self-accelerating solutions of scalar-tensor gravity
2007
Scalar-tensor gravity is the simplest and best understood modification of general relativity, consisting of a real scalar field coupled directly to the Ricci scalar curvature. Models of this type have self-accelerating solutions. In an example inspired by string dilaton couplings, scalar-tensor gravity coupled to ordinary matter exhibits a de Sitter type expansion, even in the presence of a {\it negative} cosmological constant whose magnitude exceeds that of the matter density. This unusual behavior does not require phantoms, ghosts or other exotic sources. More generally, we show that any expansion history can be interpreted as arising partly or entirely from scalar-tensor gravity. To dist…
EDGES result versus CMB and low-redshift constraints on ionization histories
2018
We examine the results from the Experiment to Detect the Global Epoch of Reionization Signature (EDGES), which has recently claimed the detection of a strong absorption in the 21 cm hyperfine transition line of neutral hydrogen, at redshifts demarcating the early stages of star formation. More concretely, we study the compatibility of the shape of the EDGES absorption profile, centered at a redshift of $z \sim 17.2$, with measurements of the reionization optical depth, the Gunn-Peterson optical depth, and Lyman-$\alpha$ emission from star-forming galaxies, for a variety of possible reionization models within the standard $\Lambda$CDM framework (that is, a Universe with a cosmological consta…
On the sources of the late integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect
2000
In some scenarios, the peculiar gravitational potential of linear and mildly nonlinear structures depends on time and, as a result of this dependence, a late integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect appears. Here, an appropriate formalism is used which allows us to improve on the analysis of the spatial scales and locations of the main cosmological inhomogeneities producing this effect. The study is performed in the framework of the currently preferred flat model with cosmological constant, and it is also developed in an open model for comparisons. Results from this analysis are used to discuss the contribution of Great Attractor-like objects, voids, and other structures to the CMB anisotropy.
Observational constraints on the LLTB model
2010
We directly compare the concordance LCDM model to the inhomogeneous matter-only alternative represented by LTB void models. To achieve a "democratic" confrontation we explore LLTB models with non-vanishing cosmological constant and perform a global likelihood analysis in the parameter space of cosmological constant and void radius. In our analysis we carefully consider SNe, Hubble constant, CMB and BAO measurements, marginalizing over spectral index, age of the universe and background curvature. We find that the LCDM model is not the only possibility compatible with the observations, and that a matter-only void model is a viable alternative to the concordance model only if the BAO constrain…
Induced gravity and the attractor dynamics of dark energy/dark matter
2010
Attractor solutions that give dynamical reasons for dark energy to act like the cosmological constant, or behavior close to it, are interesting possibilities to explain cosmic acceleration. Coupling the scalar field to matter or to gravity enlarges the dynamical behavior; we consider both couplings together, which can ameliorate some problems for each individually. Such theories have also been proposed in a Higgs-like fashion to induce gravity and unify dark energy and dark matter origins. We explore restrictions on such theories due to their dynamical behavior compared to observations of the cosmic expansion. Quartic potentials in particular have viable stability properties and asymptotica…