In the present article we study the cosmological evolution of a two-scalar field gravitational theory defined in the Jordan frame. Specifically, we assume one of the scalar fields to be minimally coupled to gravity, while the second field which is the Brans-Dicke scalar field is nonminimally coupled to gravity and also coupled to the other scalar field. In the Einstein frame this theory reduces to a two-scalar field theory where the two fields can interact only in the potential term, which means that the quintom theory is recovered. The cosmological evolution is studied by analyzing the equilibrium points of the field equations in the Jordan frame. We find that the theory can describe the cosmological evolution in large scales, while inflationary solutions are also provided.
We study integrable models in the Bianchi I metric case with scalar fields minimally and non-minimally coupled with gravity and the correspondence between their general solutions. Using the model with a minimally coupled scalar field and a constant potential as an example, we demonstrate how to obtain the general solutions of the corresponding models in the Jordan frame.
Jordan-Brans-Dicke cosmology with a standard kinetic term for the scalar field and no mass term has the same radiation dominated solution as standard Einstein cosmology without the cosmological constant. Because of this, the primordial nucleosynthesis (Big - Bang nucleosynthesis) result obtained for standard cosmology remains the same for Jordan-Brans-Dicke cosmology. We show that Jordan-Brans-Dicke cosmology with a mass term for the scalar field as well as explaining dark energy for the present era, can also explain radiation dominated cosmology for the primordial nucleosynthesis era.
We consider the embedding of 3+1 dimensional cosmology in 4+1 dimensional Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory. We show that exponentially growing and power law scale factors are implied. Whereas the 4+1 dimensional scalar field is approximately constant for each, the effective 3+1 dimensional scalar field is constant for exponentially growing scale factor and time dependent for power law scale factor.
We consider the evolution of primordial black holes in a generalyzed Jordan-Brans-Dicke cosmological model where both the Brans-Dicke scalar field and its coupling to gravity are dynamical functions determined from the evolution equations. The evaporation rate for the black holes changes compared to that in standard cosmology. We show that accretion of radiation can proceed effectively in the radiation dominated era. The black hole lifetime shortens for low initial mass, but increases for high initial mass, and is thus considerably modified compared to the case of standard cosmology. We derive…
In this work we shall study a new class of attractor models which we shall call generalized $R^p$-attractor models. This class of models is based on a generalization of the Einstein frame potential of $R^p$ $f(R)$ gravity models in the Jordan frame. We present the attractor properties of the corresponding non-minimally coupled Jordan frame theory, and we calculate the observational indices of inflation in the Einstein frame. As we show, there is a large class of non-minimally coupled scalar theories, with an arbitrary non-minimal coupling which satisfies certain conditions, that yield the same…
The Hamiltonian of any quantum cosmological model must obey some conditions in order to be self-adjoint, or to admit self-adjoint extensions. We will consider in this paper the self-adjoint character of the Hamiltonian resulting from the Brans-Dicke theory, both in Einstein and Jordan frames. In both cases we find the wave-function solutions in order to obtain concrete predictions for the evolution of the Universe. We show that the specific cosmological scenarios obtained depend very weakly on the conditions of having a self-adjoint operator. The problem of equivalence between Einstein and Jor…
It is well known that the Jordan and Einstein frames are equivalent to each other in classical Brans-Dicke theory, provided that one and the same metric is employed for the physical space-time. Nevertheless, it is shown in this paper by cosmological models that the loop quantisation in the two different frames will lead to inequivalent effective theories. Analytical solutions have been found in both frames for the effective loop quantum Brans-Dicke cosmology without potential in: (i) vacuum case, (ii) additional massless scalar field case. In Einstein frame the analytical solution for the Bran…
We consider the correspondence between the Jordan frame and the Einstein frame descriptions of scalar-tensor theory of gravitation. We argue that since the redefinition of the scalar field is not differentiable at the limit of general relativity the correspondence between the two frames is lost at this limit. To clarify the situation we analyse the dynamics of the scalar field in different frames for two distinct scalar-tensor cosmologies with specific coupling functions and demonstrate that the corresponding scalar field phase portraits are not equivalent for regions containing the general re…
Scalar-Tensor theories of gravity can be formulated in different frames, most notably, the Einstein and the Jordan one. While some debate still persists in the literature on the physical status of the different frames, a frame transformation in Scalar-Tensor theories amounts to a local redefinition of the metric, and then should not affect physical results. We analyze the issue in a cosmological context. In particular, we define all the relevant observables (redshift, distances, cross-sections, ...) in terms of frame-independent quantities. Then, we give a frame-independent formulation of the …
We discuss dynamical systems approaches and methods applied to flat Robertson-Walker models in $f(R)$-gravity. We argue that a complete description of the solution space of a model requires a global state space analysis that motivates globally covering state space adapted variables. This is shown explicitly by an illustrative example, $f(R) = R + αR^2$, $α> 0$, for which we introduce new regular dynamical systems on global compactly extended state spaces for the Jordan and Einstein frames. This example also allows us to illustrate several local and global dynamical systems techniques involving…
We consider issues related to the conformal mapping between the Einstein and Jordan frames in f(R) cosmology. We consider the impact of the conformal transformation on the gauge of a perturbed system and show that unless the system is written in a restricted set of gauges the mapping could produce an inconsistent result in the target frame. Newtonian gauge lies within the restricted group but synchronous gauge does not. If this is not treated carefully it could in principle contaminate numerical calculations.
We investigate a field theoretical approach to the Jordan-Brans- Dicke (JBD) theory extended with a particular potential term on a cosmological background by starting with the motivation that the Higgs field and the scale factor of the universe are related. Based on this relation, it is possible to come up with mathematically equivalent but two different interpretations. From one point of view while the universe is static, the masses of the elementary particles change with time. The other one, which we stick with throughout the manuscript, is that while the universe is expanding, particle mass…
A perturbative analysis shows that black holes do not remember the value of the scalar field $ϕ$ at the time they formed if $ϕ$ changes in tensor-scalar cosmology. Moreover, even when the black hole mass in the Einstein frame is approximately unaffected by the changing of $ϕ$, in the Jordan-Fierz frame the mass increases. This mass increase requires a reanalysis of the evaporation of primordial black holes in tensor-scalar cosmology. It also implies that there could have been a significant magnification of the (Jordan-Fierz frame) mass of primordial black holes.
We investigate which Jordan frame $F(R)$ gravity can describe a Type IV singular bouncing cosmological evolution, with special emphasis given near the point at which the Type IV singularity occurs. The cosmological bounce is chosen in such a way so that the bouncing point coincides exactly with Type IV singularity point. The stability of the resulting $F(R)$ gravity is examined and in addition, we study the Einstein frame scalar-tensor theory counterpart of the resulting Jordan frame $F(R)$ gravity. Also, by assuming that the Jordan frame metric is chosen in such a way so that, when conformall…
By using a bottom-up reconstruction technique for non-minimally coupled scalar-tensor theories, we realize the Einstein frame attractor cosmologies in the $Ω(ϕ)$-Jordan frame. For our approach, what is needed for the reconstruction method to work is the functional form of the non-minimal coupling $Ω(ϕ)$ and of the scalar-to-tensor ratio, and also the assumption of the slow-roll inflation in the $Ω(ϕ)$-Jordan frame. By appropriately choosing the scalar-to-tensor ratio, we demonstrate that the observational indices of the attractor cosmologies can be realized directly in the $Ω(ϕ)$-Jordan frame.…
With an explicit example, we show that Jordan frame and the conformally transformed Einstein frames clearly lead to different physics for a non-minimally coupled theory of gravity, namely Brans-Dicke theory, at least at the quantum level. The example taken up is the spatially flat Friedmann cosmology in Brans-Dicke theory.
We consider the quantum gravity and cosmology of a Jordan-Brans-Dicke theory, predicted by string effective actions. We study its canonical formalism and find that the constraint algebra is that of general relativity, as a consequence of the general covariance of scalar-tensor theories. We also analyze the problem of boundary conditions and propose that they must be imposed in the Jordan frame, in which particles satisfy the strong equivalence principle. Specifically, we discuss both Hartle-Hawking and wormhole boundary conditions in the context of quantum cosmology. We find quantum wormhole s…
We investigate how inflationary predictions are affected by the difference in the number of $e$-folds between the Jordan and Einstein frames. We study several test models in relation to a Jordan frame defined by the common Higgs-inflation-like non-minimal coupling to gravity and consider two different formulations of gravity: metric and Palatini. We find that the difference is quite contained in case of a metric Jordan frame while can be quite remarkable in case of a Palatini Jordan frame. We also discuss a way to overcome the discrepancy by introducing a frame invariant physical distance and …
In the framework of a general scalar-tensor theory, we investigate the equivalence between two different parametrizations of fields that are commonly used in cosmology - the so-called Jordan frame and Einstein frame. While it is clear that both parametrizations are mathematically equivalent at the level of the classical action, the question about their mathematical equivalence at the quantum level as well as their physical equivalence is still a matter of debate in cosmology. We analyze whether the mathematical equivalence still holds when the first quantum corrections are taken into account. …
Inflation models based on scalar-tensor theories of gravity are formulated in the Jordan frame but most often analysed in the Einstein frame. The transformation between the frames is not always desirable. In this work we formulate slow-roll conditions in the Jordan frame. This is achieved by comparing different background quantities and approximations on the same spatial slice in both frames. We use these approximations to derive simple equations that can be applied to compute inflation model observables in terms of Jordan frame quantities only. Finally, we apply some of the results to analyse…
We consider an $f(R)$ action that is non-minimally coupled to a massive scalar field. The model closely resembles scalar-tensor theory and by conformal transformation can be transformed to Einstein frame. To avoid the ambiguity of the frame dependence, we obtain an exact analytical solution in Jordan frame and show that the model leads to a period of accelerated expansion with an exit. Further, we compute the scalar and tensor power spectrum for the model and compare them with observations.
The Jordan frame action for general disformal theories is presented and studied for the first time, motivated by several unresolved mysteries that arise when working in the Einstein frame. We present the Friedmann equations and, specialising to exponential functions, study the late-time cosmology using dynamical systems methods and by finding approximate solutions. Our analysis reveals that either the disformal effects are irrelevant or the universe evolves towards a phantom phase where the equation of state of dark energy is $-3$. There is a marginal case where the asymptotic state of the uni…
Metric $f(R)$ gravity theories are conformally equivalent to models of quintessence in which matter is coupled to dark energy. We derive a condition for stable tracker solution for metric $f(R)$ gravity in the Einstein frame. We find that tracker solutions with $-0.361<ω_φ<1$ exist if $0<Γ<0.217$ and $\frac{d}{dt} \ln f'(\tilde{R})>0$, where $Γ=\frac{V_{φφ}V}{V_φ^{2}}$ is dimensionless function, $ω_φ$ is the equation of state parameter of the scalar field and $\tilde{R}$ refers to Jordan frame's curvature scalar. Also, we show that there exists $f(\tilde{R})$ gravity models which have tracking…
The FRW model with non-minimally coupled massive scalar field has been investigated in LQC framework. Considered form of the potential and coupling allows applications to Higgs driven inflation. Out of two frames used in the literature to describe such systems: Jordan and Einstein frame, the latter one is applied. Specifically, we explore the idea of the Einstein frame being the natural 'environment' for quantization and the Jordan picture having an emergent nature. The resulting dynamics qualitatively modifies the standard bounce paradigm in LQC in two ways: (i) the bounce point is no longer …
Distinguishing conformally coupled frames from the tree-level perturbative observables (scalar spectral index $n_{\rm s}$ and tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$) is challenging in cosmology as they are nearly identical. However, since the background evolution in these two frames differs significantly, we can look for potential signatures in the reheating constraints to discriminate these frames. In this work, we study the reheating phase in these frames and find that the difference in the inflationary energy scales in these frames contributes to a significant difference in the reheating e-folding numb…
Working in Einstein frame we introduce, in order to avoid singularities, holonomy corrections to the $f(R)=R+αR^2$ model. We perform a detailed analytical and numerical study when holonomy corrections are taken into account in both Jordan and Einstein frames obtaining, in Jordan frame, a dynamics which differs qualitatively, at early times, from the one of the original model. More precisely, when holonomy corrections are taken into account the universe is not singular, starting at early times in the contracting phase and bouncing to enter in the expanding one where, as in the original model, i…
We revisit the question of frame equivalence in Quantum Field Theory in the presence of gravity, a situation of relevance for theories aiming to describe the early Universe dynamics and Inflation in particular. We show that in those cases, the path integral measure must be carefully defined and that the requirement of diffeomorphism invariance forces it to depend non-trivially on the fields. As a consequence, the measure will transform also non-trivially between different frames and it will induce a new finite contribution to the Quantum Effective Action that we name frame discriminant. This n…
Energy conditions can play an important role in defining the cosmological evolution. Specifically acceleration/deceleration of cosmic fluid, as well as the emergence of Big Rip singularities, can be related to the constraints imposed by the energy conditions. Here we discuss this issue for $f(R)$ gravity considering also conformal transformations. Cosmological solutions and equations of state can be classified according to energy conditions. The qualitative change of some energy conditions for transformations from the Jordan frame to the Einstein frame is also observed.
A five dimensional brane cosmology with non-minimally coupled scalar field to gravity has been considered in a Jordan-Brans-Dicke frame. We derive an effective four dimensional field equations on a 3+1 dimensional brane where the fifth dimension has been assumed to have an orbifold symmetry. We have noticed that the evolution equation for the matter component stuck to the brane is non-trivially coupled to the scalar field living on the brane and the bulk. Finally we discuss some cosmological consequences of this set-up.
We investigate inflation models in Jordan frame supergravity, in which an inflaton non-minimally couples to the scalar curvature. By imposing the condition that an inflaton would have the canonical kinetic term in the Jordan frame, we construct inflation models with asymptotically flat potential through pole inflation technique and discuss their relation to the models based on Einstein frame supergravity. We also show that the model proposed by Ferrara et al. has special position and the relation between the Kähler potential and the frame function is uniquely determined by requiring that scala…
We studied the Einstein-Brans-Dicke cosmology in detail. The difference of the evolution of the universe is significant between Einstein-Brans-Dicke cosmology and standard big-bang model during the radiation-dominated era. The power-law evolution of the scale factor is fast enough to solve the cosmological puzzles and slow enough to avoid the graceful exit problem. However, the constraints from the satisfactory bubble distribution (beta^2>0.25) and the solar system observations (beta^2<0.002) are mutually exclusive. This suggests that this kind of inflationary model is ruled out. We also clari…
In this work, we present a complete analysis of the quantisation of the classical Brans-Dicke Theory using the method of affine quantisation in the Hamiltonian description of the theory. The affine quantisation method is based on the symmetry of the phase-space of the system, in this case the (positive) half-plane, that is identified with the affine group. We consider a FLRW-type spacetime, and since the scale factor is always positive, the affine method seems to be more suited than the canonincal quantisation for our Quantum Cosmology. We find the wave function of the Brans-Dicke universe, an…
The $f(R)$ gravity and scalar-tensor theory are known to be equivalent at the classical level. We study if this equivalence is valid at the quantum level. There are two descriptions of the scalar-tensor theory in the Jordan and Einstein frames. It is shown that these three formulations of the theories give the same determinant or effective action on shell, and thus they are equivalent at the quantum one-loop level on shell in arbitrary dimensions. We also compute the one-loop divergence in $f(R)$ gravity.
Even though we know that physical observations are frame independent, the frame dependence of cosmological perturbations is relatively subtle and has led to confusion in the past. In this paper we show that while the (unobservable) matter power spectrum is frame dependent, the observable number counts are not. We shall also determine how the frame dependence of the power spectrum depends on scale.
We study the finite time singularity correspondence between the Jordan and Einstein frames for various $F(R)$ gravity theories. Particularly we investigate the ordinary pure $F(R)$ gravity case and the unimodular $F(R)$ gravity cases, in the absence of any matter fluids. In the ordinary $F(R)$ gravity cases, by using specific illustrative examples, we show that it is possible to have various correspondences of finite time singularities, and in some cases it is possible a singular cosmology in one frame might be non-singular in the other frame. In the unimodular $F(R)$ gravity case, the unimodu…
We investigate cosmological dynamics based on $f(R)$ gravity in the Palatini formulation. In this study we use the dynamical system methods. We show that the evolution of the Friedmann equation reduces to the form of the piece-wise smooth dynamical system. This system is is reduced to a 2D dynamical system of the Newtonian type. We demonstrate how the trajectories can be sewn to guarantee $C^0$ extendibility of the metric similarly as `Milne-like' FLRW spacetimes are $C^0$-extendible. We point out that importance of dynamical system of Newtonian type with non-smooth right-hand sides in the con…
We study the possible cosmological models in Kaluza-Klein-type multidimensional gravity with a curvature-nonlinear Lagrangian and a spherical extra space, taking into account the Casimir energy. First, we find a minimum of the effective potential of extra dimensions, leading to a physically reasonable value of the effective cosmological constant in our 4D space-time. In this model, the huge Casimir energy density is compensated by a fine-tuned contribution of the curvature-nonlinear terms in the original action. Second, we present a viable model with slowly evolving extra dimensions and power-…
We revisit the problem of generality of Starobinsky and Higgs inflation. The known results obtained in the Einstein frame are generalized for the case of an arbitrary initial energy of the scalar field. These results are compared with the results obtained directly in the Jordan frame, which, to our knowledge, has not been thoroughly explored in the literature previously. We demonstrate that the qualitative picture of initial conditions zone in the $(ϕ, \dot ϕ)$ plane, which leads to sufficient amount of inflation, is quite similar for both the frames in the case of Higgs inflation. For Starobi…
Jordan and Einstein frame are studied under the light of Hamiltonian formalism. Dirac's constraint theory for Hamiltonian systems is applied to Brans-Dicke theory in the Jordan Frame. In both Jordan and Einstein frame, Brans-Dicke theory has four secondary first class constraints and their constraint algebra is closed. We show, contrary to what is generally believed, the Weyl (conformal) transformation, between the two frames, is not a canonical transformation, in the sense of Hamiltonian formalism. This addresses quantum mechanical inequivalence as well. A canonical transformation is shown.
We show, considering a specific f(R)-gravity model, that the Jordan frame and the Einstein frame are physically non-equivalent, although they are connected by a conformal transformation which yields a mathematical equivalence. Since all the calculations are performed analytically, this non-equivalence is shown in an unambiguous way.
In this paper we investigate the chameleon effect in the different conformal frames of the Brans--Dicke theory. Given that, in the standard literature on the subject, the chameleon is described in the Einstein frame almost exclusively, here we pay special attention to the description of this effect in the Jordan and in the string frames. It is shown that, in general, terrestrial and solar system bounds on the mass of the BD scalar field, and bounds of cosmological origin, are difficult to reconcile at once through a single chameleon potential. We point out that, in a cosmological context, prov…
Scalar-tensor Cosmologies can be dealt under the standard of the Hojman conservation theorem that allows to fix the form of the coupling $F(ϕ)$, of the potential $V(ϕ)$ and to find out exact solutions for related cosmological models. Specifically, the existence of a symmetry transformation vector for the equations of motion gives rise to a Hojman conserved quantity on the corresponding minisuperpace and exact solutions for the cosmic scale factor $a$ and the scalar field $ϕ$ can be achieved. In particular, we take advantage of the fact that minimally coupled solutions, previously obtained in t…
We study Weyssenhoff spin fluids in Bianchi type-I cosmological models, within the framework of torsional f(R)-gravity; the resulting field equations are derived and discussed in both Jordan and Einstein frames, clarifying the role played by the spin and the non-linearity of the gravitational Lagrangian f(R) in generating the torsional dynamical contributions. The general conservation laws holding for f(R)-gravity with torsion are employed to provide the conditions needed to ensure the preservation of the Hamiltonian constraint and the consequent correct formulation of the associated initial v…
We introduce the Brans-Dick de Rham-Gabadadze-Tolley massive gravity theory which is the new extension of nonlinear massive gravity. We demonstrate a detailed study of the cosmological properties of this theory of gravity, and we show the transformation of the Jordan frame to the Einstein frame. We obtain the cosmological background equations and show the analyses of self-accelerating solutions for explaining the accelerated expansion of the Universe. In the following, we analyze the background perturbations, which consist of tensor, vector, and scalar perturbations within the framework of the…
This thesis investigates a toy model for inflation in a class of modified theories of gravity in the metric formalism. Instead of the standard procedure -- assuming a non-linear Lagrangian $f(R)$ in the Jordan frame -- we start from a simple ϕ^2 potential in the Einstein frame and investigate the corresponding $f(R)$ in the former picture. Such approach yields plenty of new pieces of information, namely a self-terminating inflationary solution with a linear Lagrangian, a robust criterion for stability of such theories, a dynamical effective potential for the Ricci scalar $R$, the addition of a…
We consider an extension of Higgs inflation in which the Higgs field is coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term. Working solely in the Jordan frame, we firstly recover the standard predictions of Higgs inflation without a Gauss-Bonnet term. We then calculate the power spectra for scalar and tensor perturbations in the presence of a coupling to a Gauss-Bonnet term. We show that generically the predictions of Higgs inflation are robust and the contributions to the power spectra coming from the Gauss-Bonnet term are negligible. We find, however, that the end of inflation can be strongly modified and tha…
The effective dynamics of scalar-tensor theory (STT) in the Jordan frame is studied in the context of loop quantum cosmology with holonomy corrections. After deriving the effective Hamiltonian from the connection dynamics formulation, we obtain the holonomy-corrected evolution equations of STT on spatially flat Friedmann-Robterson-Walker background, which exhibit some interesting features unique to the Jordan frame of STT. In particular, the linear term of the cosine function appearing in the equations could lead to dynamics much different from the classical theory in the low-energy limit. In …
In recent years, gravitational models motivated by quantum corrections to gravity which introduce higher order terms like $R^{2}$ or terms in which the Riemann tensor is not symmetric have been studied by several authors in the form of a general Brans-Dicke type model containing the Ricci scalar, the Holst term and the Nieh-Yan invariant. In this paper we focus on the less explored Jordan frame of such theories and in the comparison between both this frame and the Einstein one. Furthermore, we discuss the role of the transformation of the torsion under conformal transformations and show that t…
We discuss the conformal symmetry between Jordan and Einstein frames considering their relations with the metric and Palatini formalisms for modified gravity. Appropriate conformal transformations are taken into account leading to the evident connection between the gravitational actions in the two mentioned frames and the Hilbert-Einstein action with a cosmological constant. We show that the apparent differences between Palatini and metric formalisms strictly depend on the representation while the number of degrees of freedom is preserved. This means that the dynamical content of both formalis…
