A new kind of accelerating flat model with no dark energy that is fully dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) is investigated. The number of CDM particles is not conserved and the present accelerating stage is a consequence of the negative pressure describing the irreversible process of gravitational particle creation. A related work involving accelerating CDM cosmology has been discussed before the SNe observations [Lima, Abramo & Germano, Phys. Rev. D53, 4287 (1996)]. However, in order to have a transition from a decelerating to an accelerating regime at low redshifts, the matter creation rate proposed here includes a constant term of the order of the Hubble parameter. In this case, $H_0$ does not need to be small in order to solve the age problem and the transition happens even if the matter creation is negligible during the radiation and part of the matter dominated phase. Therefore, instead of the vacuum dominance at redshifts of the order of a few, the present accelerating stage in this sort of Einstein-de Sitter CDM cosmology is a consequence of the gravitational particle creation process. As an extra bonus, in the present scenario does not exist the coincidence problem that plagues models with dominance of dark energy. The model is able to harmonize a CDM picture with the present age of the universe, the latest measurements of the Hubble parameter and the Supernovae observations.
An exact inhomogeneous solution of Einstein's field equations is shown to be able to inflate in a non-uniform way in the early universe and explain anomalies in the WMAP power spectrum data. It is also possible for the model to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe by late-time inhomogeneous structure.
We explore observational constraints on a cosmological brane-world scenario in which the bulk is not empty. Rather, exchange of mass-energy between the bulk and the bane is allowed. The evolution of matter fields to an observer on the brane is then modified due to new terms in the energy momentum tensor describing this exchange. We investigate the constraints from various cosmological observations on the flow of matter from the bulk into the brane. Interestingly, we show that it is possible to have a $Λ= 0$ cosmology to an observer in the brane which satisfies standard cosmological constraints…
The accelerating expansion of the universe presents an exciting, fundamental challenge to the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. I highlight some of the outstanding challenges in both developing theoretical models and interpreting without bias the observational results from precision cosmology experiments in the next decade that will return data to help reveal the nature of the new physics. Examples given focus on distinguishing a new component of energy from a new law of gravity, and the effect of early dark energy on baryon acoustic oscillations.
A general-relativistic theory of cosmology, the dynamical variables of which are those of Hubble's, namely distances and redshifts, is presented. The theory describes the universe as having a three-phase evolution with a decelerating expansion followed by a constant and an accelerating expansion, and it predicts that the universe is now in the latter phase. The theory is actually a generalization of Hubble's law taking gravity into account by means of Einstein's theory of general relativity. The equations obtained for the universe expansion are elegant and very simple. It is shown, assuming Om…
A brief account of the current cosmological observations is given and their implications for QCDM and $Λ$CDM cosmologies are discussed. The nucleosynthesis and the galaxy formation constraints have been used to put limits on $Ω_ϕ$ during cosmic evolution, and develop a realistic approach to the tracking behaviour of quintessence fields. The astrophysical constraints are applied to interpolate the value of the tracking parameter $ε\simeq 0.75$ at the present epoch and also to find the lower and the upper limits for $Λ$ in the accelerating universe. It is shown that the transition from decelerat…
Investigations of the dynamic modes of the Poincare gauge theory of gravity found only two good propagating torsion modes; they are effectively a scalar and a pseudoscalar. Cosmology affords a natural situation where one might see observational effects of these modes. Here we consider only the ``scalar torsion'' mode. This mode has certain distinctive and interesting qualities. In particular this type of torsion does not interact directly with any known matter and it allows a critical non-zero value for the affine scalar curvature. Via numerical evolution of the coupled nonlinear equations we …
We consider a cosmology in which a spherically symmetric large scale inhomogeneous enhancement or a void are described by an inhomogeneous metric and Einstein's gravitational equations. For a flat matter dominated universe the inhomogeneous equations lead to luminosity distance and Hubble constant formulas that depend on the location of the observer. For a general inhomogeneous solution, it is possible for the deceleration parameter to differ significantly from the FLRW result. The deceleration parameter $q_0$ can be interpreted as $q_0 > 0$ ($q_0=1/2$ for a flat matter dominated universe) in …
The standard Friedmann universe embedded in a five dimensional and constant curvature bulk is examined without any a priori junction condition between the brane and the bulk. A geometrical explanation for the accelerated expansion of the universe is derived by using a minimum set of assumptions consistent with the brane-world program. It is shown that the extrinsic curvature of the brane can be associated to the dark energy which presumably drives the universe expansion.
The DGP brane-world model provides a simple alternative to the standard LCDM cosmology, with the same number of parameters. There is no dark energy - the late universe self-accelerates due to an infrared modification of gravity. We compute the joint constraints on the DGP model from supernovae, the cosmic microwave background shift parameter, and the baryon oscillation peak in the SDSS luminous red galaxy sample. Flat DGP models are within the joint 2 sigma contour, but the LCDM model provides a significantly better fit to the data. These tests are based on the background dynamics of the DGP m…
The velocity of the Hubble expansion has been added to General Relativity by Moshe Carmeli and this resulted in new equations of motion for the expanding universe. For the first time the observational magnitude-redshift data derived from the high-$z$ supernova teams has been analysed in the framework of the Carmeli theory and the fit to that theory is achieved without the inclusion of any dark matter. Best fits to the data yield an averaged matter density for the universe at the present epoch $Ω_{m} \approx 0.021$, which falls well within the measured values of the baryonic matter density. And…
Six-dimensional Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity (with a linear Gauss-Bonnet term) is investigated. This theory is inspired by basic features of results coming from string and M-theory. Dynamical compactification is carried out and it is seen that a four-dimensional accelerating FRW universe is recovered, when the two-dimensional internal space radius shrinks. A non-perturbative structure of the corresponding theory is identified which has either three or one stable fixed points, depending on the Gauss-Bonnet coupling being positive or negative. A much richer structure than in the case of the per…
Currently available Type Ia distant supernovae observed data seem to support evidence that the cosmic expansion of the universe is accelerating. This unexpected result is beyond any standard model of modern cosmology. The new concept advanced to account for the acceleration is dark energy or quintessence with negative pressure. Most analyses using this new form of energy describe the observed data with great accuracy, although there has been no laboratory confirmation of it. The present work analyzes the consequences of Thomson scattering on Type Ia supernovae data for two significant reasons;…
Area metric manifolds emerge as effective classical backgrounds in quantum string theory and quantum gauge theory, and present a true generalization of metric geometry. Here, we consider area metric manifolds in their own right, and develop in detail the foundations of area metric differential geometry. Based on the construction of an area metric curvature scalar, which reduces in the metric-induced case to the Ricci scalar, we re-interpret the Einstein-Hilbert action as dynamics for an area metric spacetime. In contrast to modifications of general relativity based on metric geometry, no conti…
A new cosmological scenario driven by a slow rolling homogeneous scalar field whose exponential potential $V(Φ)$ has a quadratic dependence on the field $Φ$ in addition to the standard linear term is discussed. The derived equation of state for the field predicts a transient accelerating phase, in which the Universe was decelerated in the past, began to accelerate at redshift $z \sim 1$, is currently accelerated, but, finally, will return to a decelerating phase in the future. This overall dynamic behavior is profoundly different from the standard $Λ$CDM evolution, and may alliviate some confl…
The negative pressure accompanying gravitationally-induced particle creation can lead to a cold dark matter (CDM) dominated, accelerating Universe (Lima et al. 1996) without requiring the presence of dark energy or a cosmological constant. In a recent study Lima et al. (2008, LSS) demonstrated that particle creation driven cosmological models are capable of accounting for the SNIa observations of the recent transition from a decelerating to an accelerating Universe. Here we test the evolution of such models at high redshift using the constraint on z_eq, the redshift of the epoch of matter radi…
In this paper the accelerating expansion of our universe at the late cosmic evolution time in a generally modified (extended) \emph{Chaplygin gas} (Dark Fluid) model is detailed, which is characterized by two parameters ($m$, $α$). Different choices to the parameters $m$ and $α$ divide this model into two main kinds of situation by different properties with cosmological interests. With proper choices of parameters, we find that this extended model can realize the phantom divide $w=-1$ (Equation Of State parameter) crossing phenomenon with interesting ranges of the scale factor value $a(t)$ cor…
We develop a simple method of dark energy reconstruction using a geometrical form of the luminosity-distance relation. In this method the FRW dynamical system with dark energy is reconstructed instead of the equation of state parameter. We give several examples which illustrate the usefulness of our method in fitting the redshift transition from the decelerating to accelerating phase as the value of the Hubble function at the transition.
We present some useful ways to visualize the nature of dark energy and the effects of the accelerating expansion on cosmological quantities. Expansion probes such as Type Ia supernovae distances and growth probes such as weak gravitational lensing and the evolution of large scale structure provide powerful tests in complementarity. We present a ``ladder'' diagram, showing that in addition to dramatic improvements in precision, next generation probes will provide insight through an increasing ability to test assumptions of the cosmological framework, including gravity beyond general relativity.
We propose an explanation for the present accelerated expansion of the universe that does not invoke dark energy or a modification of gravity and is firmly rooted in inflationary cosmology.
We investigate the cosmology of a recently proposed deformation of Einstein gravity, emerging from quantum gravity heuristics. The theory is constructed to have de Sitter space as a vacuum solution, and thus to be relevant to the accelerating universe. However, this solution turns out to be unstable, and the true phase space of cosmological solutions is significantly more complex, displaying two late-time power-law attractors -- one accelerating and the other dramatically decelerating. It is also shown that non-accelerating cosmologies sit on a separatrix between the two basins of attraction o…
Observational evidence indicating that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has surprised cosmologists in recent years. Cosmological models have sought to explain this acceleration by incorporating `dark energy', of which the traditional cosmological constant is just one possible candidate. Several cosmological models involving an evolving equation of state of the dark energy have been proposed, as well as possible energy exchange to other components, such as dark matter. This paper summarises the forms of the most prominent models and discusses their implications for cosmology and as…
It has very recently been demonstrated by Csaki, Kaloper and Terning (CKT) that the faintness of supernovae at high redshift can be accommodated by mixing of a light axion with the photon in the presence of an intergalactic magnetic field, as opposed to the usual explanation of an accelerating universe by a dark energy component. In this paper we analyze further aspects of the CKT mechanism and its generalizations. The CKT mechanism also passes various cosmological constraints from the fluctuations of the CMB and the formation of structure at large scales, without requiring an accelerating pha…
We explore the cosmological consequences of Modified Gravity (MOG), and find that it provides, using a minimal number of parameters, good fits to data, including CMB temperature anisotropy, galaxy power spectrum, and supernova luminosity-distance observations without exotic dark matter. MOG predicts a bouncing cosmology with a vacuum energy term that yields accelerating expansion and an age of ~13 billion years.
This is a short overview of spatially flat (or open) four-dimensional accelerating cosmologies for some simple exponential potentials obtained by string or M theory compactification on some non-trivial curved spaces, which may lead to some striking results, e.g., the observed cosmic acceleration and the scale of the dark energy from first principles.
We investigate the cosmological consequences of a simple theory in which the electric charge $e$ is allowed to vary. The theory is locally gauge and Lorentz invariant, and satisfies general covariance. We find that in this theory the fine structure 'constant', $α$, remains almost constant in the radiation era, undergoes small increase in the matter era, but approaches a constant value when the universe starts accelerating because of the presence of a positive cosmological constant. This model satisfies geonuclear, nucleosynthesis, and CMB constraints on time-variation in $α$, while fitting sim…
We suggest to generalize the dark energy equation of state (EoS) by introduction the relaxation equation for pressure which is equivalent to consideration of the inhomogeneous EoS cosmic fluid which often appears as the effective model from strings/brane-worlds. As another, more wide generalization we discuss the inhomogeneous EoS which contains derivatives of pressure. For several explicit examples motivated by the analogy with classical mechanics the accelerating FRW cosmology is constructed. It turns out to be the asymptotically de Sitter or oscillating universe with possible transition fro…
Phantom cosmology allows to account for dynamics and matter content of the universe tracing back the evolution to the inflationary epoch, considering the transition to the non-phantom standard cosmology (radiation/matter dominated eras) and recovering the today observed dark energy epoch. We develop the unified phantom cosmology where the same scalar plays the role of early time (phantom) inflaton and late-time Dark Energy. The recent transition from decelerating to accelerating phase is described too by the same scalar field. The (dark) matter may be embedded in this scheme, giving the natura…
We present the scalar-tensor gravitational theory with an exponential potential in which pauli metric is regarded as the physical space-time metric. We show that it is essentially equivalent to coupled quintessence(CQ) model. However for baryotropic fluid being radiation there are in fact no coupling between dilatonic scalar field and radiation. We present the critical points for baryotropic fluid and investigate the properties of critical points when the baryotropic matter is specified to ordinary matter. It is possible for all the critical points to be attractors as long as the parameters $λ…
Astrophysical observations indicate the expansion of the universe is accelerating. Applying the holographic entropy conjecture to the cosmological horizon in an accelerating universe suggests the universe has only a finite number of degrees of freedom. This is consistent with a closed universe arising from a quantum fluctuation, with zero total quantum numbers. If space-time has eleven dimensions, and the universe began as a closed force-symmetric ten-dimensional space with characteristic dimension L, seven of the space dimensions must have collapsed to generate the three large space dimension…
