We discuss the mechanism by which the field vacuum energy varies as a result of strong self-interaction. We propose a non-perturbative approach to treat strong interactions and discuss the problem in terms of quasi-particles describing the motion of field modes. The resulting vacuum energy is variable and depends on the state of the system. If the interacting scalar field is related to the cosmological field, an acceleration equation with a stable equilibrium point follows in a simple model, predicting the oscillatory behavior of the scale factor and other cosmological effects.
Self-consistent system of spinor, scalar and BI gravitational fields is considered. Exact solutions to the field equations in terms of volume scale of the BI metric are obtained. Einstein field equations in account of the cosmological constant $Λ$ and perfect fluid are studied. Oscillatory mode of expansion of the universe is obtained. It is shown that for the interaction term being a power function of the invariants of bilinear spinor forms and $Λ> 0$ and given other parameters, e.g., coupling constant, spinor mass etc., there exists a finite range of integration constant which generates osci…
We use qualitative arguments combined with numerical simulations to argue that, in the approach to the singularity in a vacuum solution of Einstein's equations with $T^2$ isometry, the evolution at a generic point in space is an endless succession of Kasner epochs, punctuated by bounces in which either a curvature term or a twist term becomes important in the evolution equations for a brief time. Both curvature bounces and twist bounces may be understood within the context of local mixmaster dynamics although the latter have never been seen before in spatially inhomogeneous cosmological spacet…
Positively-curved, oscillatory universes are studied within the context of Loop Quantum Cosmology subject to a consistent semi-classical treatment. The semi-classical effects are reformulated in terms of an effective phantom fluid with a variable equation of state. In cosmologies sourced by a massless scalar field, these effects lead to a universe that undergoes ever-repeating cycles of expansion and contraction. The presence of a self-interaction potential for the field breaks the symmetry of the cycles and can enable the oscillations to establish the initial conditions for successful slow-ro…
Recently, States of Low Energy (SLEs) have been proposed as viable vacuum states of primordial perturbations within Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC). In this work we investigate the effect of the high curvature region of LQC on the definition of SLEs. Shifting the support of the test function that defines them away from this regime results in primordial power spectra of perturbations closer to those of the so-called Non-oscillatory (NO) vacuum, which is another viable choice of initial conditions previously introduced in the LQC context. Furthermore, through a comparison with the Hadamard-like SLE…
Using coherent and squeezed state formalisms of quantum optics for a minimally coupled non-classical inflaton in the FRW mertic is studied, in semiclassical theory of gravity. The leading order solution for the semiclassical Einstein equations in the coherent, squeezed and squeezed vacuum states are obtained perturbatively and are exhibit powerlaw expansion behaviour. The validity of the semiclassical theory is examined in the squeezed vacuum state in the oscillatory phase of the inflaton. The semiclassical theory in the oscillatory phase of the non-classical inflaton holds only if the associa…
Describing the presently observable Universe as a self-sustained condensate of gravitons of size $H_0^{-1}$, with large occupation number $N$, we argue that the most probable value for the quantum vacuum energy is of the order of the critical energy density, as observed.
The general plane wave solutions of the Proca field in conformal charts of the de Sitter expanding universe are derived for arbitrary polarizations showing how the frequencies can be separated in rest frames, defining thus the rest frame vacuum of this field.
The decay of the string perturbative vacuum, if triggered by a suitable, duality-breaking dilaton potential, can efficiently proceed via the parametric amplification of the Wheeler-De Witt wave function in superspace, and can appropriately describe the birth of our Universe as a quantum process of pair production from the vacuum.
In a recent paper (Phys. Rev. D95, 103504 (2017)) it is argued that, due to the fluctuations around its mean value, vacuum energy gravitates differently from what previously assumed. As a consequence, the universe would accelerate with a small Hubble expansion rate, solving the cosmological constant and dark energy problems. We point out here that the results depend on the type of cutoff used to evaluate the vacuum energy. In particular, they are not valid when one uses a covariant cutoff such that the zero point energy density is positive definite.
The vacuum expectation values (VEVs) of the field squared and energy-momentum tensor for a massless scalar field are investigated in the Milne universe with general number of spatial dimensions. The vacuum state depends on the choice of the mode functions in the canonical quantization procedure and we assume that the field is prepared in the conformal vacuum. As the first step an integral representation for the difference of the Wightman functions corresponding to the conformal and Minkowski vacua is derived. The mean field squared and energy-momentum tensor are obtained in the coincidence lim…
Within the third quantisation formalism, we find solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt in terms of two sets of modes that can be identified with the Hartle-Hawking's no boundary condition and with the Vilenkin's tunneling boundary condition, respectively. The two sets of modes are related by a Bogolyubov transformation so the no boundary vacuum state turns out to be equivalent to a thermal distribution of tunnelling positive and negative modes representing, in a relative sense, universes and antiuniverses
Primordial gravitational waves generated from early universe are placed in the squeezed vacuum state and the resulting stochastic background is studied for various models of the expanding universe. The quantum effect on the stochastic gravitational waves leads to overall enhancement of the amplitude and spectral energy density when compared to those in the absence of squeezing effect with continued increase in the amplitude in the accelerating stage and oscillatory behavior at higher frequency range of the spectrum in the accelerating universe. Through the quantum effect, it is also found that…
We consider a non singular origin for the Universe starting from an Einstein static Universe, the so called "emergent universe" scenario, in the framework of a theory which uses two volume elements $\sqrt{-{g}}d^{4}x$ and $Φd^{4}x$, where $Φ$ is a metric independent density, used as an additional measure of integration. Also curvature, curvature square terms and for scale invariance a dilaton field $ϕ$ are considered in the action. The first order formalism is applied. The integration of the equations of motion associated with the new measure gives rise to the spontaneous symmetry breaking (S.…
We analyze fermion mixing in the framework of field quantization in curved spacetime. We compute the expectation value of the energy momentum tensor of mixed fermions on the flavor vacuum. We consider spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker metrics, and we show that the energy momentum tensor of the flavor vacuum is diagonal and conserved. Therefore it can be interpreted as the effective energy momentum tensor of a perfect fluid. In particular, assuming a fixed De Sitter background, the equation of state of the fluid is consistent with that of dust and cold dark matter. Our results …
We study oscillatory universes within the context of Loop Quantum Cosmology. We make a comparative study of flat and positively curved universes sourced by scalar fields with either positive or negative potentials. We investigate how oscillating universes can set the initial conditions for successful slow-roll inflation, while ensuring that the semi-classical bounds are satisfied. We observe rich oscillatory dynamics with negative potentials, although it is difficult to respect the semi-classical bounds in models of this type.
The question of whether the universe is eternal or if it had a singular moment of creation is deeply intriguing. Although different versions of steady state and oscillatory models of eternal universe have been envisaged, empirical evidence suggests a singular moment of creation at the big bang. Here we analyze the oscillatory solutions for the universe in a modified theory of gravity THED (Torsion Hides Extra-Dimension) and evaluate them by fitting Type 1a supernovae redshift data. THED-gravity exactly mimics General Relativity at the kinematical level, while the modifications in its dynamical…
In this paper we study the description of the Universe based on the low energy superstring theory modified by the Loop Quantum Gravity effects.This approach was proposed by De Risi et al. in the Phys. Rev. D {\bf 76} (2007) 103531. We show that in the contrast with the string motivated pre-Big Bang scenario, the cosmological realisation of the $t$-duality transformation is not necessary to avoid an initial singularity. In the model considered the universe starts its evolution in the vacuum phase at time $t\to - \infty$. In this phase the scale factor $a\to 0$, energy density $ρ\to 0$ and coupl…
This paper suggests a model for a bubble universe using buildable false vacuum bubbles. We study the causal structures of collapsing false vacuum bubbles using double-null simulations. False vacuum bubbles violate the null energy condition and emit negative energy along the outgoing direction through semi-classical effects. If there are a few collapsing false vacuum bubbles and they emit negative energy to a certain region, then the region can be approximated by a negative energy bath, which means the region is homogeneously filled by negative energy. If a false vacuum bubble is generated in t…
We investigate the effect of vacuum corrections, due to the trace anomaly and Casimir effect, on the stability of an oscillating universe with respect to decay by tunneling to the singularity. We find that these corrections do not generally stabilize an oscillating universe. However, stability may be achieved for some specially fine-tuned non-vacuum states.
We construct a black hole whose interior is the false vacuum and whose exterior is the true vacuum of a classical field theory. From the outside the metric is the usual Schwarzschild one, but from the inside the space is de Sitter with a cosmological constant determined by the energy of the false vacuum. The parameters of the field potential may allow for the false vacuum to exist for more than the present age of the universe. A potentially relevant effective field theory within the context of QCD results in a Schwarzschild radius of about 200 km.
Using the 3rd quantization formalism we study the quantum entanglement of universes created in pairs within the framework of standard homogeneous and isotropic cosmology. In particular, we investigate entanglement quantities (entropy, temperature) around maxima, minima and inflection points of the classical evolution. The novelty from previous works is that we show how the entanglement changes in an extended minisuperspace parameterised by the scale factor and additionally, by the massless scalar field. We study the entanglement quantities for the universes which classically exhibit Big-Bang a…
Using a previously introduced model in which the expansion of the universe is driven by a single scalar field subject to gravitational attraction induced by a white hole during the expansion (from a 6D vacuum state), we study the origin of squared inflaton fluctuations spectrum on astrophysical scales.
In this letter we investigate some consequences of considering our 4D observable universe as locally and isometrically embeded into a 5D spacetime, where gravity is described by a Brans-Dicke theory in vacuum. Once we impose the embeding conditions we obtain that gravity on the 4D spacetime is governed by the Einstein field equations modified by an extra term that can play the role of a dynamical cosmological constant. Two examples were studied. In the first we derive a cosmological model of a universe filled only with a cosmological constant. In the second we obtain a cosmological solution de…
The physical Hamiltonian of a gravity-matter system depends on the choice of time, with the vacuum naturally identified as its ground state. We study the expanding universe with scalar field in the volume time gauge. We show that the vacuum energy density computed from the resulting Hamiltonian is a non-linear function of the cosmological constant and time. This result provides a new perspective on the relation between time, the cosmological constant, and vacuum energy.
We investigate the quantum vacuum and find the fluctuations can lead to the inhomogeneous quantum vacuum. We find that the vacuum fluctuations can significantly influence the cosmological inhomogeneity, which is different from what previously expected. By introducing the modified Green's function, we reach a new inflationary scenario which can explain why the Universe is still expanding without slowing down. We also calculate the tunneling amplitude of the Universe based on the inhomogeneous vacuum. We find that the inhomogeneity can lead to the penetration of the universe over the potential b…
The great emptiness is a possible beginning of the Universe in the infinite past of physical time. For the epoch of great emptiness particles are extremely rare and effectively massless. Only expectation values of fields and average fluctuations characterize the lightlike vacuum of this empty Universe. The physical content of the early stages of standard inflationary cosmological models is the lightlike vacuum. Towards the beginning, the Universe is almost scale invariant. This is best seen by an appropriate choice of the metric field -- the primordial flat frame -- for which the beginning of …
The Einstein static universe has played a central role in a number of emergent scenarios recently put forward to deal with the singular origin of the standard cosmological model. Here we study the existence and stability of the Einstein static solution in presence of vacuum energy corresponding to conformally-invariant fields. We show that the presence of vacuum energy stabilizes this solution by changing it to a centre equilibrium point, which is cyclically stable. This allows non-singular emergent cosmological models to be constructed in which initially the universe oscillates indefinitely a…
We point out that the (pseudo-)conformal Universe scenario may be realized as decay of conformally invariant, metastable vacuum, which proceeds via spontaneous nucleation and subsequent growth of a bubble of a putative new phase. We study perturbations about the bubble and show that their leading late-time properties coincide with those inherent in the original models with homogeneously rolling backgrounds. In particular, the perturbations of a spectator dimension-zero field have flat power spectrum.
A closed vacuum-dominated Friedmann universe is asymptotic to a de Sitter space with a cosmological event horizon for any observer. The holographic principle says the area of the horizon in Planck units determines the number of bits of information about the universe that will ever be available to any observer. The wavefunction describing the probability distribution of mass quanta associated with bits of information on the horizon is the boundary condition for the wavefunction specifying the probability distribution of mass quanta throughout the universe. Local interactions between mass quanta…
We investigate the gravitational property of the quantum vacuum by treating its large energy density predicted by quantum field theory seriously and assuming that it does gravitate to obey the equivalence principle of general relativity. We find that the quantum vacuum would gravitate differently from what people previously thought. The consequence of this difference is an accelerating universe with a small Hubble expansion rate $H\propto Λe^{-β\sqrt{G}Λ}\to 0$ instead of the previous prediction $H=\sqrt{8πGρ^{vac}/3}\propto\sqrt{G}Λ^2\to\infty$ which was unbounded, as the high energy cutoff $…
We point out that the standard formulation of the cosmological constant problem itself is problematic since it is trying to apply the very large scale homogeneous cosmological model to very small (Planck) scale phenomenon. At small scales, both the spacetime and the vacuum stress energy are highly inhomogeneous and wildly fluctuating. This is a version of Wheeler's "spacetime foam". We show that this "foamy" structure would produce a large positive contribution to the average macroscopic spatial curvature of the Universe. In order to cancel this contribution to match the observation, the usual…
In this paper we study the charged electro-weak interactions in the de Sitter geometry. We develop the reduction formalism for the Proca field with the help of the solutions for the interacting fields. Perturbation theory is used for obtaining the definition of the transition amplitudes in the first order. We apply our formalism to the study of spontaneous vacuum emission of fermions, anti-fermions and $W^{\pm}$ bosons in the expanding de Sitter universe. Our results are generalizations of the Weinberg-Salam electro-weak theory to curved space-time, in the case of $W^{\pm}$ boson interaction w…
In the present paper we study equations of state of Casimir vacuum of massive scalar field and massive bispinor field in compact Friedmann Universe. With use of the Abel-Plana formula the renormalization of divergent series for calculation of the quantum means of operators is implemented.
We investigate a cosmological model in which dark energy identified with the vacuum energy which is running and decaying. In this model vacuum is metastable and decays into a bare (true) vacuum. This decaying process has a quantum nature and is described by tools of the quantum decay theory of unstable systems. We have found formulas for an asymptotic behavior of the energy density of dark energy in the form of a series of inverse powers of the cosmological time. We investigate the dynamics of FRW models using dynamical system methods as well as searching for exact solutions. From dynamical an…
The Unruh effect refers to the thermal fluctuations a detector experiences while undergoing linear motion with uniform acceleration in a Minkowski vacuum. This thermality can be demonstrated by tracing the vacuum state of the field over the modes beyond the accelerated detector's event horizon. However, the event horizon is well-defined only if the detector moves with eternal uniform linear acceleration. This idealized condition cannot be fulfilled in realistic situations when the motion unavoidably involves periods of non-uniform acceleration. Many experimental proposals to test the Unruh eff…
Back-reaction of the massless scalar field vacuum to the Universe expansion is considered. Automatic renormalization procedure based on the equations of motion instead of the Friedman equation is used to avoid the cosmological constant problem. It is found, that the vacuum tends to decelerate an expansion of Universe if the conformal acceleration of Universe is equal to zero. In contract, the vacuum acts as the true cosmological constant in Universe expanding with the present day acceleration. Estimation for third derivative of the Universe scale factor with respect to conformal time is presen…
We study the dynamics of the quantum scalar field responsible for inflation in different epochs of the evolution of the universe by using a recently introduced nonperturbative formalism from a 5D apparent vacuum.
The vacuum is considered as some fluid emergent from the zero-point fluctuations of the quantum fields contributing to the vacuum energy density and pressure. The equation of vacuum state and the speed of vacuum sound-waves are deduced under the assumption of zero vacuum entropy. The evolution of the background space-time metric resembles that of the Milne's-like universe. In the framework of the five-vector theory of gravitation allowing an arbitrary choice of the energy density reference level, the dynamics of the vacuum, pressureless matter, and space-time metrics perturbations are traced u…
We consider a non-singular origin for the Universe starting from an Einstein static Universe, the so called "emergent universe" scenario, in the framework of a theory which uses two volume elements $\sqrt{-{g}}d^{4}x$ and $Φd^{4}x$, where $Φ$ is a metric independent density, used as an additional measure of integration. Also curvature, curvature square terms and for scale invariance a dilaton field $ϕ$ are considered in the action. The first order formalism is applied. The integration of the equations of motion associated with the new measure gives rise to the spontaneous symmetry breaking (S.…
We study a model that the entropy per particle in the universe is constant. The sources for the entropy are the particle creation and a lambda decaying term. We find exact solutions for the Einstein field equations and show the compatibilty of the model with respect to the age and the acceleration of the universe.
Vacuum and particles can be naturally defined in the adiabatic regime of an expanding universe. In general, however, there is no preferred choice of a vacuum state, unless the spacetime background possesses special symmetries. In the absence of symmetries the standard viewpoint is to construct distinguished adiabatic states permitting renormalizability of the stress-energy tensor. We study a special non-adiabatic vacuum for a massive scalar field in a radiation-dominated universe defined by imposing early-times conformal symmetry. We show that this state is consistent with renormalization, des…
The only known general base to eliminate the vacuum divergencies of quantized matter fields in quantum geometrodynamics is the fermion-boson supersymmetry. The topological effect of the closed Universe -- discretization of the vacuum fluctuations spectra -- allows to formulate the conditions of cancellation of the divergencies. In the center of attention of this work is the fact that these conditions result in the considerable restrictions on the gauge and factor-ordering ambiguities peculiar to the equations of the theory and, in the limits of the isotropic model of the Universe, remove these…
We report the existence of an Unruh like effect, for physical observers (cosmological and comoving observers) in the radiation dominated early universe, which is possible due to the discovery of a new vacuum state (referred here as the $T-$vacuum). Both the comoving and the cosmological observers, who are crucial in our understanding of cosmology, observe this $T-$vacuum as a particle excited state and are able to detect radiation due to particle creation. We draw a robust analogy with the Unruh effect, whereby -- (i) the physical observers here are closely analogous to the accelerated (Rindle…
We construct a model for the universe based on the existence of quantum fields at finite temperature in the background of Robertson-Walker spacetime in presence of a non-zero cosmological constant. We discuss the vacuum regime in the light of the results obtained through previous studies of the back-reaction of massless quantum fields in the static Einstein universe, and we argue that an adiabatic vacuum state and thermal equilibrium is achieved throughout this regime. Results shows that such a model can explain many features of the early universe as well as the present universe. The model is …
In de Sitter ambient space formalism, the linear gravity can be written in terms of a minimally coupled scalar field and a polarization tensor. In this formalism, the massless minimally coupled scalar field can be quantized on Bunch-Davies vacuum state, that preserves the de Sitter invariance, the analyticity and removes the infrared divergence. The de Sitter quantum linear gravity is then constructed on Bunch-Davies vacuum state, which is also covariant, analytic and free of any infrared divergences. We will conclude that the unique Bunch-Davies vacuum state can be used adequately to construc…
A semi-classical analysis of vacuum energy in the expanding spacetime suggests that the cosmological term decays with time, with a concomitant matter production. For early times we find, in Planck units, $Λ\approx H^4$, where H is the Hubble parameter. The corresponding cosmological solution has no initial singularity, existing since an infinite past. During an infinitely long period we have a quasi-de Sitter, inflationary universe, with $H \approx 1$. However, at a given time, the expansion undertakes a phase transition, with H and $Λ$ decreasing to nearly zero in a few Planck times, producin…
Application of Krein space quantization to the linear gravity in de Sitter space-time have constructed on Gupta-Bleuler vacuum state, resulting in removal of infrared divergence and preserving de Sitter covariant. By pursuing this path, the non uniqueness of vacuum expectation value of the product of field operators in curved space-time disappears as well. Then the vacuum expectation value of the product of field operators can be defined properly and uniquely.
In this work, we investigated the electroweak vacuum instability during or after inflation. In the inflationary Universe, i.e., de Sitter space, the vacuum field fluctuations $\left< {δϕ}^{ 2 } \right>$ enlarge in proportion to the Hubble scale $H^{2}$. Therefore, the large inflationary vacuum fluctuations of the Higgs field $\left< {δϕ}^{ 2 } \right>$ are potentially catastrophic to trigger the vacuum transition to the negative-energy Planck-scale vacuum state and cause an immediate collapse of the Universe. However, the vacuum field fluctuations $\left< {δϕ}^{ 2 } \right>$, i.e., the vacuum …
The simplest gauge gravitation theory in Riemann-Cartan space-time leading to the solution of the problem of cosmological singularity and dark energy problem is investigated with purpose to solve the dark matter problem. It is shown that the interaction of the vacuum torsion field with proper angular moments of gravitating objects can lead to appearance at astrophysical scale (galaxies, galactic clusters) additional force of gravitational attraction, which in the frame of standard theory is connected with dark matter.
I review the excellent phenomenological status of a class of dynamical vacuum models in which the vacuum energy density, $ρ_Λ=ρ_Λ(H)$, as a function of the Hubble rate, evolves through its interaction with dark matter and/or through the accompanying running of the gravitational coupling $G$, including the possibility of being self-conserved with a nontrivial effective equation of state. Some of these models have been used to incorporate into a single vacuum structure the rapid stage of inflation, followed by the standard radiation and cold dark matter epochs all the way down until the dark ene…
Many have speculated about the presence of a stiff fluid in very early stage of the universe. Such a stiff fluid was first introduced by Zel'dovich. Recently the late acceleration of the universe was studied by taking bulk viscous stiff fluid as the dominant cosmic component, but the age predicted by such a model is less than the observed value. We consider a flat universe with viscous stiff fluid and decaying vacuum energy as the cosmic components and found that the model predicts a reasonable background evolution of the universe with de Sitter epoch as end phase of expansion. More over the m…
The production of gravitational vacuum defects and their contribution in energy density of the Universe are discussed. These topological microstructures could be produced as the result of defect creation of the Universe from "nothing" as well as the result of the first relativistic phase transition. They must be isotropically distributed on background of the expanding Universe. After Universe inflation these microdefects smoothed, stretched and broke up. Parts of them have survived and now they are perceived as the structures of Lambda-term (quintessence) and unclustered dark matter. It is sho…
