Search results for "Cosmological"

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…

Exploring dark matter microphysics with galaxy surveys

2015

We use present cosmological observations and forecasts of future experiments to illustrate the power of large-scale structure (LSS) surveys in probing dark matter (DM) microphysics and unveiling potential deviations from the standard $\Lambda$CDM scenario. To quantify this statement, we focus on an extension of $\Lambda$CDM with DM-neutrino scattering, which leaves a distinctive imprint on the angular and matter power spectra. After finding that future CMB experiments (such as COrE+) will not significantly improve the constraints set by the Planck satellite, we show that the next generation of galaxy clustering surveys (such as DESI) could play a leading role in constraining alternative cos…

A dynamical systems study of the inhomogeneous Lambda-CDM model

2010

We consider spherically symmetric inhomogeneous dust models with a positive cosmological constant, $\Lambda$, given by the Lemaitre-Tolman-Bondi metric. These configurations provide a simple but useful generalization of the Lambda-CDM model describing cold dark matter (CDM) and a Lambda term, which seems to fit current cosmological observations. The dynamics of these models can be fully described by scalar evolution equations that can be given in the form of a proper dynamical system associated with a 4-dimensional phase space whose critical points and invariant subspaces are examined and classified. The phase space evolution of various configurations is studied in detail by means of two 2-…

Running couplings from adiabatic regularization

2019

We extend the adiabatic regularization method by introducing an arbitrary mass scale $\mu$ in the construction of the subtraction terms. This allows us to obtain, in a very robust way, the running of the coupling constants by demanding $\mu$-invariance of the effective semiclassical (Maxwell-Einstein) equations. In particular, we get the running of the electric charge of perturbative quantum electrodynamics. Furthermore, the method brings about a renormalization of the cosmological constant and the Newtonian gravitational constant. The running obtained for these dimensionful coupling constants has new relevant (non-logarithmic) contributions, not predicted by dimensional regularization.

Topological defects and large-scale structure

1990

Background independent quantum field theory and gravitating vacuum fluctuations

2019

The scale dependent effective average action for quantum gravity complies with the fundamental principle of Background Independence. Ultimately the background metric it formally depends on is selected self-consistently by means of a suitable generalization of Einstein's equation. Self-consistent backround spacetimes are scale dependent, and therefore "going on-shell" at the points along a given renormalization group (RG) trajectory requires understanding two types of scale dependencies: the (familiar) direct one carried by the off-shell action functional, and an indirect one related to the self-consistent background geometry. This paper is devoted to a careful delineation and analysis of ce…

Cosmological data analysis of f(R) gravity models

2009

A class of well-behaved modified gravity models with long enough matter domination epoch and a late-time accelerated expansion is confronted with SNIa, CMB, SDSS, BAO and H(z) galaxy ages data, as well as current measurements of the linear growth of structure. We show that the combination of geometrical probes and growth data exploited here allows to rule out f(R) gravity models, in particular, the logarithmic of curvature model. We also apply solar system tests to the models in agreement with the cosmological data. We find that the exponential of the inverse of the curvature model satisfies all the observational tests considered and we derive the allowed range of parameters. Current data s…

Observational effects of varying speed of light in quadratic gravity cosmological models

2017

We study different manifestations of the speed of light in theories of gravity where metric and connection are regarded as independent fields. We find that for a generic gravity theory in a frame with locally vanishing affine connection, the usual degeneracy between different manifestations of the speed of light is broken. In particular, the space-time causal structure constant ([Formula: see text]) may become variable in that local frame. For theories of the form [Formula: see text], this variation in [Formula: see text] has an impact on the definition of the luminosity distance (and distance modulus), which can be used to confront the predictions of particular models against Supernovae t…

Correspondence between modified gravity and general relativity with scalar fields

2018

We describe a novel procedure to map the field equations of nonlinear Ricci-based metric-affine theories of gravity, coupled to scalar matter described by a given Lagrangian, into the field equations of General Relativity coupled to a different scalar field Lagrangian. Our analysis considers examples with a single and $N$ real scalar fields, described either by canonical Lagrangians or by generalized functions of the kinetic and potential terms. In particular, we consider several explicit examples involving $f(R)$ theories and the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld gravity model, coupled to different scalar field Lagrangians. We show how the nonlinearities of the gravitational sector of these t…

Entropy signature of the running cosmological constant

2007

Renormalization group (RG) improved cosmologies based upon a RG trajectory of Quantum Einstein Gravity (QEG) with realistic parameter values are investigated using a system of cosmological evolution equations which allows for an unrestricted energy exchange between the vacuum and the matter sector. It is demonstrated that the scale dependence of the gravitational parameters, the cosmological constant in particular, leads to an entropy production in the matter system. The picture emerges that the Universe started out from a state of vanishing entropy, and that the radiation entropy observed today is essentially due to the coarse graining (RG flow) in the quantum gravity sector which is relat…