About 70\% of the Universe is Dark Energy, but the physics community still does not know what it is. Delta Gravity (DG) is an alternative theory of gravitation that could solve this cosmological problem. Previously, we studied the Universe's accelerated expansion, where DG was able to explain the SNe-Ia data successfully. In this work, we explore the cosmological fluctuations that give rise to the CMB through a hydrodynamic approximation. We calculate the gauge transformations for the metric and the perfect fluid to present the equations of the evolution of cosmological fluctuations, providing the necessary equations to solve in a semi-analytical way the scalar TT Power Spectrum. These equations will be useful for comparing the DG theory with astronomical observations and thus being able to constraint the DG cosmology, testing, in the future, the compatibility with the CMB Planck data, which are currently in controversy with SNe-Ia.
Delta Gravity is a gravitational model based on an extension of General Relativity given by a new symmetry called $\tildeδ$. In this model, new matter fields are added to the original matter fields, motivated by the additional symmetry. We call them $\tildeδ$ matter fields. This model predicts an accelerating Universe without the need to introduce a cosmological constant. In this work, we study the Delta Gravity prediction about the scalar CMB TT power spectrum using an analytical hydrodynamical approach. To fit the Planck satellite's data with the DG model, we used a Markov Chain Monte Carlo …
We present a model of the gravitational field based on two symmetric tensors. Gravity is affected by the new field, but outside matter the predictions of the model coincide exactly with general relativity, so all classical tests are satisfied. We find that massive particles do not follow a geodesic while massless particles trajectories are null geodesics of an effective metric. We study the Cosmological case, where we get an accelerated expansion of the universe without dark energy. We also introduce the possibility to explain dark matter with $\tildeδ$ gravity.
We present a model of the gravitational field based on two symmetric tensors. The equations of motion of test particles are derived: Massive particles do not follow a geodesic but massless particles trajectories are null geodesics of an effective metric. Outside matter, the predictions of the model coincide exactly with General Relativity, so all classical tests are satisfied. In Cosmology, we get accelerated expansion without a cosmological constant.
A gravitational field model based on two symmetric tensors, $g_{μν}$ and $\tilde{g}_{μν}$, is studied, using a Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) analysis with the most updated catalog of SN-Ia. In this model, new matter fields are added to the original matter fields, motivated by an additional symmetry ($\tildeδ$~symmetry). We call them $\tildeδ$ matter fields. This theory predicts an accelerating Universe without the need to introduce a cosmological constant $Λ$ by hand in the equations. We obtained a very good fit to the SN-Ia Data, and with this, we found the two free parameters of the theory…
Models that seek to explain cosmic acceleration through modifications to General Relativity (GR) evade stringent Solar System constraints through a restoring, screening mechanism. Down-weighting the high density, screened regions in favor of the low density, unscreened ones offers the potential to enhance the amount of information carried in such modified gravity models. In this work, we assess the performance of a new "marked" transformation and perform a systematic comparison with the clipping and logarithmic transformations, in the context of $Λ$CDM and the symmetron and $f(R)$ modified gra…
We study the cosmological constraints on active-sterile neutrino oscillations nu_e <-> nu_s for the case when nu_s is partially filled initially, i.e. 0 < delta N_s < 1. We provide numerical analysis of the cosmological production of He-4, in the presence of nu_e <-> nu_s oscillations, effective after neutrino decoupling, accounting for all known oscillations effects on cosmological nucleosynthesis. Cosmological constraints on oscillation parameters corresponding to higher than 5% He-4 overproduction and different non-zero initial populations of the sterile state delta N_s < 1 are calculated. …
Parameterized frameworks for modified gravity are potentially useful tools for model-independent tests of General Relativity on cosmological scales. The toy model of an Einstein-de Sitter (EdS) universe provides a safe testbed in which to improve our understanding of their behaviour. We implement a mathematically consistent parameterization at the level of the field equations, and use this to calculate the evolution of perturbations in an EdS scenario. Our parameterization explicitly allows for new scalar degrees of freedom, and we compare this to theories in which the only degrees of freedom …
Since the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the present Universe, significant theoretical developments have been made in the area of modified gravity. In the meantime, cosmological observations have been providing more high-quality data, allowing us to explore gravity on cosmological scales. To bridge the recent theoretical developments and observations, we present an overview of a variety of modified theories of gravity and the cosmological observables in the cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure, supplemented with a summary of predictions for cosmological observables …
We investigate the cosmological perturbations in the context of a Scalar-Tensor-Vector theory of Gravity known as MOG in the literature. Recent investigations show that MOG reproduces a viable background cosmological evolution comparable to $Λ$CDM. However, the matter-dominated era is slightly different. In this paper, we study the linear matter perturbations and estimate the relevant modified gravity parameters. We show that MOG reduces the growth rate of the perturbations and comparing with the RSD data reveals that MOG suggests a higher value for $σ_8$, compare to $Λ$CDM. This point, consti…
We investigate anisotropic cosmological solutions of the theory with non-minimal couplings between electromagnetic fields and gravity in $Y(R) F^2$ form. After we derive the field equations by the variational principle, we look for spatially flat cosmological solutions with magnetic fields or electric fields. Then we give exact anisotropic solutions by assuming the hyperbolic expansion functions. We observe that the solutions approach to the isotropic case in late-times.
We construct models with the Gauss-Bonnet term multiplied to a function of the scalar field leading to inflationary scenario. The consideration is related with the slow-roll approximation. The cosmological attractor approach gives the spectral index of scalar perturbations which is in a good agreement with modern observation and allows variability for tensor-to-scalar ratio. We reconstruct models with variability of parameters which allow to reproduce cosmological attractor predictions for inflationary parameters in the leading order of $1/N$ approximation in the Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet gravity.
We study a class of almost scale-invariant modified gravity theories, using a particular form of $f(R, G) = αR^2 + βG \log G$ where $R$ and $G$ are the Ricci and Gauss-Bonnet scalars, respectively and $α$, $β$ are arbitrary constants. We derive the Einstein-like field equations to first order in cosmological perturbation theory in longitudinal gauge.
We prove that in the infinite speed-of-light limit (i.e., non-relativistic and subhorizon limits), the relativistic fully nonlinear cosmological perturbation equations in two gauge conditions, the zero-shear gauge and the uniform-expansion gauge, exactly reproduce the Newtonian hydrodynamic perturbation equations in the cosmological background; as a consequence, in the same two gauge conditions, the Newtonian hydrodynamic equations are exactly recovered in the Minkowsky background.
We study some aspects of cosmological inflation in the framework of unimodular $f(R)$ gravity. To be more clarified, we consider a generic $f(R)$ of the type $f(R)=R+αR^{n}$. By considering Einstein frame counterpart of the unimodular $f(R)$ gravity, we set the scalaron to be responsible for cosmological inflation in this setup. We confront our model parameters space with observational data and impose some constraints on the value of $n$ in this manner. We show that for the number of e-folds $N=60$, the model is consistent with observation if $1.89<n<1.918$.
We study cosmological dynamics and phase space of a scalar field localized on the DGP brane. We consider both the minimally and nonminimally coupled scalar quintessence and phantom fields on the brane. In the nonminimal case, the scalar field couples with induced gravity on the brane. We present a detailed analysis of the critical points, their stability and late-time cosmological viability of the solutions in the phase space of the model.
We investigate cosmological consequences of a class of exponential $f(R)$ gravity in the Palatini formalism. By using the current largest type Ia Supernova sample along with determinations of the cosmic expansion at intermediary and high-$z$ we impose tight constraints on the model parameters. Differently from other $f(R)$ models, we find solutions of transient acceleration, in which the large-scale modification of gravity will drive the Universe to a new decelerated era in the future. We also show that a viable cosmological history with the usual matter-dominated era followed by an accelerati…
Cosmological solutions derived by Nariai and Tomita (1971) and by Starobinsky (1980) are compared, and it is shown that the former derived de Sitter expansion in the R^2 modified gravity (without cosmological constant) at the earliest stage, and nine years later the latter derived the well-known inflationary solution. Next the property of their simplified models is described using the method of conformal transformations, and how the inflation arises and the singularity is avoided is shown. Finally the initial and final states of the inflation are discussed.
This paper is a pedagogical introduction to models of gravity and how to constrain them through cosmological observations. We focus on the Horndeski scalar-tensor theory and on the quantities that can be measured with a minimum of assumptions. Alternatives or extensions of General Relativity have been proposed ever since its early years. Because of Lovelock theorem, modifying gravity in four dimensions typically means adding new degrees of freedom. The simplest way is to include a scalar field coupled to the curvature tensor terms. The most general way of doing so without incurring in the Ostr…
This brief contribution is devoted to phenomenological consequences of deviations from Lorentz invariance in gravity and dark matter. We will discuss main effects on cosmological observables and current constraints derived from astrophysical and cosmological data.
We investigate some cosmological models arising from a non-minimal coupling of a fermionic field to gravity in the geometrical setting of Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble gravity. The role played by the non-minimal coupling together with torsion in facing problems such as cosmological singularity, inflation and dark energy is discussed.
The one-loop effective action for non-minimal scalar modified gravity on de Sitter background with a constant scalar field is found. The corresponding induced cosmological constant is evaluated. It is shown that quantum effects in non-minimal modified gravity may induce an early-time de Sitter universe even in the situation when such solution does not occur on the classical level. Classical reconstruction of the theory is presented in such a way that the resulting theory has a cosmological solution unifying early-time inflation with late-time acceleration.
We consider some cosmological aspects of nonlocal modified gravity with $Λ$ term, where nonlocality is of the type $R \mathcal{F}(\Box) R$. Using ansatz of the form $\Box R = r R +s,$ we find a few a(t) nonsingular bounce cosmological solutions for all three values of spatial curvature parameter k. We also discuss this modified gravity model from F(R) theory point of view.
Using a statistical sample of dark matter haloes drawn from a suite of cosmological N-body simulations of the Cold Dark Matter (CDM) model, we quantify the impact of a simulated halo's mass accretion and merging history on two commonly used measures of its dynamical state, the virial ratio eta and the centre of mass offset Delta r. Quantifying this relationship is important because the degree to which a halo is dynamically equilibrated will influence the reliability with which we can measure characteristic equilibrium properties of the structure and kinematics of a population of haloes. We beg…
We investigate the cosmological perturbations around FLRW solutions to non- linear massive gravity with a new effective coupling to matter proposed recently. Unlike the case with minimal matter coupling, all five degrees of freedom in the gravity sector propagate on generic self-accelerating FLRW backgrounds. We study the stability of the cosmological solutions and put constraints on the parameters of the theory by demanding the correct sign for the kinetic terms for scalar, vector and tensor perturbations.
We study dynamics of induced gravity cosmological models with sixth degree potential, that have found using the superpotential method. The important property of these models are existence of exact cosmological solutions that tend to fixed points. The stability of these cosmological solutions have been obtained. In particular, we find conditions under which solutions with a non-monotonic Hubble parameter that tend to a fixed point are attractors.
During hundred years of General Relativity (GR), many significant gravitational phenomena have been predicted and discovered. General Relativity is still the best theory of gravity. Nevertheless, some (quantum) theoretical and (astrophysical and cosmological) phenomenological difficulties of modern gravity have been motivation to search more general theory of gravity than GR. As a result, many modifications of GR have been considered. One of promising recent investigations is Nonlocal Modified Gravity. In this article we present a brief review of some nonlocal gravity models with their cosmolo…
Cosmological perturbations are considered in $f(T)$ and in scalar-torsion $f(φ)T$ teleparallel models of gravity. Full sets of linear perturbation equations are accurately derived and analysed at the relevant limits. Interesting features of generalisations to other teleparallel models, spatially curved backgrounds, and rotated tetrads are pointed out.
We perform a detailed dynamical analysis of various cosmological scenarios in extended (varying-mass) nonlinear massive gravity. Due to the enhanced freedom in choosing the involved free functions, this cosmological paradigm allows for a huge variety of solutions that can attract the universe at late times, comparing to scalar-field cosmology or usual nonlinear massive gravity. Amongst others, it accepts quintessence, phantom, or cosmological-constant-like late-time solutions, which moreover can alleviate the coincidence problem. These features seem to be general and non-sensitive to the impos…
We use the ideas of entropic gravity to derive the FRW cosmological model and show that for late time evolution we have an effective cosmological constant. By using the first law of thermodynamics and the modified entropy area relationship derived from the supersymmetric Wheeler-DeWitt equation of the Schwarzschild black hole, we obtain modifications to the Friedmann equations that in the late time regime gives an effective positive cosmological constant. Therefore, this simple model can account for the dark energy component of the universe by providing an entropic origin to the cosmological c…
We have discussed a particular class of exact cosmological solutions of the 4-dimensional low energy string gravity in the string frame. In the vacuum without matter and the 2-form fields, the exact cosmological solutions always give monotonically shrinking universes if the dilaton field is not a constant. However, in the presence of the 2-form fields and/or the radiation-like fluid in the string frame, the exact cosmological solutions show a minimum size of the universe in the evolution, but with an initial cosmological curvature singularity in the string frame.
We study cosmological applications of extended vector-tensor theories, whose Lagrangians contain up to two derivatives with respect to metric and vector field. We derive background equations under the assumption of homogeneous and isotropic universe and study the nature of cosmological perturbations on top of the background. We found an example of healthy cosmological solutions in non-trivial degenerate theory of gravity for the first time, where those perturbations do not suffer from any instabilities, that is, ghost and gradient instabilities.
We consider linear perturbations about a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological background in the projectable version of Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. Starting from the action for cosmological perturbations, we identify the canonically normalized fluctuation variables. We find that - in contrast to what happens in the non-projectable version of the theory - the extra scalar cosmological perturbation mode is already dynamical at the level of linear perturbations. For values of the parameter $λ$ in the range $1/3 < λ< 1$, the extra mode is ghost-like, for values $1 < λ$ and $λ< 1/3$ it is tachyonic. …
We consider the evolution of cosmological gravitational waves in scalar-tensor theory and $F(R)$ gravity theory as typical models of the modified gravity. Although the propagation speed is not changed from the speed of light, the propagation phase changes when we compare the propagation in these modified gravity theories with the propagation in the $Λ$CDM model. The phase change might be detected in future observations.
A ghost-free theory of gravity with two dynamical metrics both coupled to matter is shown to be consistent and viable. Its cosmological implications are studied, and the models, in particular in the context of partially massless gravity, are found to explain the cosmic acceleration without resorting to dark energy.
We discuss a possible mechanism to screen a cosmological constant in non-local gravity. We find that in a simple model of of non-local gravity with the Lagrangian of the form, $R+f(\Box^{-1}R)-2Λ$ where $f(X)$ is a quadratic function of $X$, there is a flat spacetime solution despite the presence of the cosmological constant $Λ$. Unfortunately, however, we also find that this solution contains a ghost in general. Then we discuss the condition to avoid a ghost and find that one can avoid it only for a finite range of `time'. Nevertheless our result suggests the possibility of solving the cosmol…
In this paper, we will show that the equations of motion of the quadratic in curvature, ghost free, infinite derivative theory of gravity will not permit an anisotropic collapse of a homogeneous Universe for a Kasner-type vacuum solution.
We investigate perturbations of a class of spherically symmetric solutions in massive gravity and bi-gravity. The background equations of motion for the particular class of solutions we are interested in reduce to a set of the Einstein equations with a cosmological constant. Thus, the solutions in this class include all the spherically symmetric solutions in general relativity, such as the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker solution and the Schwarzschild (-de Sitter) solution, though the one-parameter family of two parameters of the theory admits such a class of solutions. We find that the eq…
We investigate a cosmological model resulting from a dimensional reduction of the higher-dimensional dRGT massive gravity. By using the Kaluza-Klein dimensional reduction, we obtain an effective four-dimensional massive gravity theory with a scalar field. It is found that the resulting theory corresponds to a combined description of mass-varying massive gravity and quasi-dilaton massive gravity. By analyzing the cosmological solution, we found that it is possible to obtain the late-time expansion of the universe due to the graviton mass. By using a dynamical system approach, we found regions o…
In an $n$-dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric, it is rigorously shown that any analytical theory of gravity $f(R,{\cal G})$, where $R$ is the curvature scalar and $\cal G$ is the Gauss-Bonnet topological invariant, can be associated to a perfect-fluid stress-energy tensor. In this perspective, dark components of the cosmological Hubble flow can be geometrically interpreted.
In this work we present some cosmologically relevant solutions using the spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) spacetime in metric $f(R)$ gravity where the form of the gravitational Lagrangian is given by $\frac{1}αe^{αR}$. In the low curvature limit this theory reduces to ordinary Einstein-Hilbert Lagrangian together with a cosmological constant term. Precisely because of this cosmological constant term this theory of gravity is able to support nonsingular bouncing solutions in both matter and vacuum background. Since for this theory of gravity $f^{\prime}$ and $f^{\prime\…
We explore thermodynamics of the apparent horizon in $f(T)$ gravity with both equilibrium and non-equilibrium descriptions. We find the same dual equilibrium/non-equilibrium formulation for $f(T)$ as for $f(R)$ gravity. In particular, we show that the second law of thermodynamics can be satisfied for the universe with the same temperature of the outside and inside the apparent horizon.
This article lays out a complete framework for an effective theory of cosmological perturbations with corrections from canonical quantum gravity. Since several examples exist for quantum-gravity effects that change the structure of space-time, the classical perturbative treatment must be rethought carefully. The present discussion provides a unified picture of several previous works, together with new treatments of higher-order perturbations and the specification of initial states.
One of the so-called viable modified gravities is analyzed. This kind of gravity theories are characterized by a well behavior at local scales, where General Relativity is recovered, while the modified terms become important at the cosmological level, where the late-time accelerating era is reproduced, and even the inflationary phase. In the present work, the future cosmological evolution for one of these models is studied. A transition to the phantom phase is observed. Furthermore, the scalar-tensor equivalence of f(R) gravity is also considered, which provides important information concernin…
We show that an n-dimensional generalized Robertson-Walker (GRW) space-time with divergence-free conformal curvature tensor exhibits a perfect fluid stress-energy tensor for any f(R) gravity model. Furthermore we prove that a conformally flat GRW space-time is still a perfect fluid in both f(R) and quadratic gravity where other curvature invariants are considered.
We explore the cosmological evolution in the exponential gravity $f(R)=R +c_1 (1-e^{- c_2 R})$ ($c_{1, 2} = \mathrm{constant}$). We summarize various viability conditions and explicitly demonstrate that the late-time cosmic acceleration following the matter-dominated stage can be realized. We also study the equation of state for dark energy and confirm that the crossing of the phantom divide from the phantom phase to the non-phantom (quintessence) one can occur. Furthermore, we illustrate that the cosmological horizon entropy globally increases with time.
Signature change at high density has been obtained as a possible consequence of deformed space-time structures in models of loop quantum gravity. This article provides a conceptual discussion of implications for cosmological scenarios, based on an application of mathematical results for mixed-type partial differential equations (the Tricomi problem). While the effective equations from which signature change has been derived are shown to be locally regular and therefore reliable, the underlying theory of loop quantum gravity may face several global problems in its semiclassical solutions.
We investigate the cosmological applications of $F(T,T_G)$ gravity, which is a novel modified gravitational theory based on the torsion invariant $T$ and the teleparallel equivalent of the Gauss-Bonnet term $T_{G}$. $F(T,T_{G})$ gravity differs from both $F(T)$ theories as well as from $F(R,G)$ class of curvature modified gravity, and thus its corresponding cosmology proves to be very interesting. In particular, it provides a unified description of the cosmological history from early-times inflation to late-times self-acceleration, without the inclusion of a cosmological constant. Moreover, th…
The quasi-static solutions of the matter density perturbation in $F(R)$ gravity models have been investigated in numerous papers. However, the oscillating solutions in $F(R)$ gravity models have not been investigated enough so far. In this paper, the oscillating solutions are also examined by using appropriate approximations. And the behaviors of the matter density perturbation in F(R) gravity models with singular evolutions of the physical parameters are shortly investigated as applications of the approximated calculations.
Recently it was argued that gravity with the squire of the Ricci tensor can be stabilized by adding constraints to the theory. This was so far demonstrated for fluctuations on the Minkowski/de Sitter background. We show that the same scheme works equally well for removing Ostrogradski's ghost from fluctuations on a cosmological background in generic $f(R,R_{μν}^2,C_{μνρσ}^2)$-type theories of gravity. We also derive the general formula for the spectrum of primordial tensor perturbations from the stabilized theory.
In the framework of the recently proposed models of massive gravity, defined with respect to a de Sitter reference metric, we obtain new homogeneous and isotropic solutions for arbitrary cosmological matter and arbitrary spatial curvature. These solutions can be classified into three branches. In the first two, the massive gravity terms behave like a cosmological constant. In the third branch, the massive gravity effects can be described by a time evolving effective fluid with rather remarkable features, including the property to behave as a cosmological constant at late time.
We review recent developments on cosmology in extended teleparallel gravity, called "$F(T)$ gravity" with $T$ the torsion scalar in teleparallelism. We explore various cosmological aspects of $F(T)$ gravity including the evolution of the equation of state for the universe, finite-time future singularities, thermodynamics, and four-dimensional effective $F(T)$ gravity theories coming from the higher-dimensional Kaluza-Klein (KK) and Randall-Sundrum (RS) theories.
We study the characteristics of the galaxy cluster samples expected from the European Space Agency's Euclid satellite and forecast constraints on cosmological parameters describing a variety of cosmological models. The method used in this paper, based on the Fisher Matrix approach, is the same one used to provide the constraints presented in the Euclid Red Book (Laureijs et al.2011). We describe the analytical approach to compute the selection function of the photometric and spectroscopic cluster surveys. Based on the photometric selection function, we forecast the constraints on a number of c…
We present a new massively parallel code for N-body and cosmological hydrodynamical simulations of modified gravity models. The code employs a multigrid-accelerated Newton-Gauss-Seidel relaxation solver on an adaptive mesh to efficiently solve for perturbations in the scalar degree of freedom of the modified gravity model. As this new algorithm is implemented as a module for the P-Gadget3 code, it can at the same time follow the baryonic physics included in P-Gadget3, such as hydrodynamics, radiative cooling and star formation. We demonstrate that the code works reliably by applying it to simp…
We consider modified gravity cosmological models that can be transformed into two-field chiral cosmological models by the conformal metric transformation. For the $R^2$ gravity model with an additional scalar field and the corresponding two-field model with the cosmological constant and nonstandard kinetic part of the action, the general solutions have been obtained in the spatially flat FLRW metric. We analyze the correspondence of the cosmic time solutions obtained and different possible evolutions of the Hubble parameters in the Einstein and Jordan frames.
We study linear cosmological perturbations in the ``healthy extension'' of Horava-Lifshitz gravity which has recently been analyzed \cite{BPS2}. We find that there are two degrees of freedom for scalar metric fluctuations, but that one of them decouples in the infrared limit. Also, for appropriate choices of the parameters defining the Lagrangian, the extra mode can be made well-behaved even in the ultraviolet.
The primordial spectrum of cosmological tensor perturbations is considered as a possible probe of quantum gravity effects. Together with string theory, loop quantum gravity is one of the most promising frameworks to study quantum effects in the early universe. We show that the associated holonomy correction should modify the potential seen by gravitational waves during the inflationary amplification. The resulting power spectrum should exhibit a characteristic tilt. This opens a new window for cosmological tests of quantum gravity.
We study cosmological perturbation theory within the framework of unimodular gravity. We show that the Lagrangian constraint on the determinant of the metric required by unimodular gravity leads to an extra constraint on the gauge freedom of the metric perturbations. Although the main equation of motion for the gravitational potential remains the same, the shift variable, which is gauge artifact in General Relativity, cannot be set to zero in unimodular gravity. This non-vanishing shift variable affects the propagation of photons throughout the cosmological evolution and therefore modifies the…
A modified f(R) gravity model has been recently proposed in Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 221101 (2009) [arXiv:0905.1941] whose cosmological behaviour is clearly distinguishable from LCDM. Contrary to previous opinions which consider that self-consistent f(R) gravity models distinct from LCDM are almost ruled out, the authors claim that the proposed model is cosmologically viable. Here we show that although the model satisfies some consistency conditions, precisely because of its departure from LCDM behaviour, it does not satisfy local gravity constraints and, in addition, the predicted matter power s…
