A spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background with a general scale factor is considered. In this space-time, the energy-momentum tensor of the scalar field with a general curvature coupling parameter is obtained. Using the Thermo Field Dynamics (TFD) formalism the Stefan-Boltzmann law and the Casimir effect at finite temperature are calculated. The Casimir effect at zero temperature is also considered. The expansion of the universe changes these effects. A discussion of these modifications is presented.
Applying the first law of thermodynamics to the apparent horizon of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe and assuming the geometric entropy given by a quarter of the apparent horizon area, we derive the Friedmann equations describing the dynamics of the universe with any spatial curvature. Using entropy formulae for the static spherically symmetric black hole horizons in Gauss-Bonnet gravity and in more general Lovelock gravity, where the entropy is not proportional to the horizon area, we are also able to obtain the Friedmann equations in each gravity theory. We also discuss some physical im…
Open string field theory in the level truncation approximation is considered. It is shown that the energy conservation law determines existence of rolling tachyon solution. The coupling of the open string field theory action to a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric is considered which leads to a new time dependent rolling tachyon solution is presented and possible cosmological consequences are discussed.
Kaluza-Klein approach in an N(=1+3+D)-dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker type space is often adopted in the literature. We derive a compact expression for the Friedmann equation in a (1+3+D)-dimensional space. The redundancy of the associated field equations due to the Bianchi identity is analyzed. We also study the dilaton gravity theory with higher-derivative gravitational couplings. It turns out that higher-order terms will not affect the Friedmann equation in a constant flat internal space. This is true only for the flat-De Sitter external space. The inflationary solution in an induced…
In this paper we present exact solutions to the so-called Elko spinors for three models of expanding universe, namely the de Sitter, linear and the radiation type evolution. The study was restrict to flat, homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker backgrounds. Starting with an Elko spinor we present the solutions for these cases and compared to the case of Dirac spinors. Besides, an attempt to use Elko spinors as a dark energy candidate in the cosmological context is investigated.
Stability analysis of the Bianchi type I universe in pure gravity theory is studied in details. We first derive the non-redundant field equation of the system by introducing the generalized Bianchi type I metric. This non-redundant equation reduces to the Friedmann equation in the isotropic limit. It is shown further that any unstable mode of the isotropic perturbation with respect to a de Sitter background is also unstable with respect to anisotropic perturbations. Implications to the choice of physical theories are discussed in details in this paper.
In this work we establish the correspondence between solutions to the Friedmann--Robertson--Walker cosmologies for perfect fluid and scalar field sources, where both ones fulfill state equations of the form $p+ρ=γf(ρ)$, not necessarily linear ones. Such state equations are of common use in the case of matter--fluids, nevertheless, for a scalar field, they introduce relationships on the potential and kinetic scalar field energies which restrict the set of solutions. A theorem on this respect is demonstrated: From any given (3+1)--cosmological solution, obeying the quoted state equations, one ca…
We discuss both the off-shell nilpotent Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) and anti-BRST symmetry transformations for the cosmological Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model with a differential gauge condition in the extended phase space. In this discussion, the presence of anti-BRST symmetry provides the complete geometrical description of BRST within the ambit of the supervariable approach. We derive the conserved (anti-)BRST charges for the FRW model using the celebrated Noether theorem and show the nilpotency and absolute anti-commutativity properties of these conserved charges within the re…
We derive the Hamiltonian describing Pauli-Fierz massive gravitons on a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology in a particular, non-generic effective field theory. The cosmological evolution is driven by a scalar field Phi with an arbitrary potential V(Phi). The model contains two coupled scalar modes, corresponding to the fluctuations of Phi and to the propagating scalar component of the Pauli-Fierz graviton. In order to preserve the full gauge invariance of the massless version of the theory, both modes have to be taken into account. We canonically normalize the Hamiltonian and gene…
We provide a detailed description for power--law scaling Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological scenarios dominated by two interacting perfect fluid components during the expansion. As a consequence of the mutual interaction between the two fluids, neither component is conserved separately and the energy densities are proportional to $1/t^{2}$. It is shown that in flat FRW cosmological models there can exist interacting superpositions of two perfect fluids (each of them having a positive energy density) which accelerate the expansion of the universe. In this family there also exist flat power…
We study the conditions for the consistency of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) metric with the dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity. It turns out to be that in this situation the accelerated expansion of the Universe takes place, with the time dependence of the scale factor turns out to be similar to the case of presence of the Chaplygin gas. Also we found that this modification changes the total density of the Universe and therefore gives a nontrivial impact to a cosmological scenario.
The existence of self-similar solutions is discussed in symmetric teleparallel $f(Q)$-theory for a Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker background geometry with zero and non-zero spatial curvature. For the four distinct families of connections which describe the specific cosmology in symmetric teleparallel gravity, the functional form of $f(Q)$ is reconstructed. Finally, to see if the analogy with General Relativity holds, we discuss the relation of the self-similar solutions with the asymptotic behaviour of more general $f(Q)$ functions.
We illustrate how the group of symmetry transformations, which preserve the form of the n--dimensional flat Friedmann--Robertson--Walker cosmologies satisfying Einstein equations, acts in any dimension. This group relates the energy density and the isotropic pressure of the cosmic fluid to the expansion rate. The freedom associated with the dimension of the space time yields assisted inflation even when the energy density of the fluid is a dimensional invariant and enriches the set of duality transformations leading to phantom cosmologies.
In (Phys. Rev. D 62, 081501, 2000) we proposed a unified approach to description of continuous and discrete spacetime based on nonassociative geometry and described nonassociative smooth and discrete de Sitter models. In our paper we give the description of nonassociative Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime.
We consider effective actions of the cosmological Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) models and discuss their fermionic rigid BRST invariance. Further, we demonstrate the finite field-dependent BRST transformations as a limiting case of continuous field-dependent BRST transformations described in terms of continuous parameter $κ$. The Jacobian under such finite field-dependent BRST transformations is computed explicitly, which amounts an extra piece in the effective action within functional integral. We show that for a particular choice of the parameter the finite field-dependent BRST transforma…
We investigate exact solutions and the asymptotic dynamics for the Friedmann-Lema\^ıtre-Robertson-Walker universe with nonzero spatial curvature in the fourth-order modified teleparallel gravitational theory known as $f\left( T, B\right) $ theory. We show that the field equations admit a minisuperspace description, and they can reproduce any exact form of the scale factor. Moreover, we calculate the equilibrium points and analyze their stability. We show that Milne and Milne-like solutions are supported, and the de Sitter universe is provided. To complete our analysis, we use Poincaré variable…
In some interesting work of James Lidsey, the dynamics of Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) cosmology with positive curvature and a perfect fluid matter source is shown to be modeled in terms of a time-dependent, harmonically trapped Bose-Einstein condensate. In the present work, we extend this dynamic correspondence to both FLRW and Bianchi I cosmologies in arbitrary dimension, especially when a cosmological constant is present.
In a recent paper [arXiv:1206.4916] by T. Padmanabhan, it was argued that our universe provides an ideal setup to stress the issue that cosmic space is emergent as cosmic time progresses and that the expansion of the universe is due to the difference between the number of degrees of freedom on a holographic surface and the one in the emerged bulk. In this note following this proposal we obtain the Friedmann equation of a higher dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe. By properly modifying the volume increase and the number of degrees of freedom on the holographic surface from the entr…
Motivated by the models of geometry with discrete spaces as additional dimensions we investigate the stability of cosmological solutions in models with two metrics of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker type. We propose an effective gravity action that couples the two metrics in a similar manner as in the bimetric theory of gravity and analyse whether standard solutions with identical metrics are stable under small perturbations.
We study the existence of black holes in a homogeneous and isotropic expanding Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe dominated by dark energy. We show that black holes can exist in such a universe by considering some specific McVittie solutions. Although these solutions violate all three energy conditions, the FRW background does satisfy the weak energy condition.
The conformal gravity remarkably boosts our prehension of gravity theories. We find a series of dynamical solutions in the $W^2$-conformal gravity, including generalized Schwarzschild-Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (GSFRW), charged generalized Schwarzschild-Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (CGSFRW), especially rotating Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (RFRW), charged rotating Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (CRFRW), and a dynamical cylindrically symmetric solutions. The RFRW, CRFRW and the dynamical cylindrically symmetric solutions are never found in the Einstein gravity and modified gravities. The GSFRW and CGSF…
In this paper we investigate the quantum Brownian motion of a massive scalar point particle induced by the FRW spacetime in the presence of a linear topological defect named cosmic string. In addition, we also consider a flat boundary orthogonal to the defect to analyse its effect on the particle's motion. For both cases we found exact expressions for the renormalized mean square deviation of the particle velocity, the quantity that measures the induced Brownian motion, and obtain asymptotic expressions when the point particle is near and far away from the cosmic string and the boundary. Furth…
We study past-directed extendibility of Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) and Bianchi type I spacetimes with a scale factor vanishing in the past. We give criteria for determining whether a boundary for past-directed incomplete geodesics is a parallelly propagated curvature singularity, which cannot necessarily be read off from scalar curvature invariants. It is clarified that, for incomplete FLRW spacetime to avoid the singularity, the spacetime necessarily reduces to the Milne universe or flat de Sitter universe toward the boundary. For incomplete Bianchi type I spacetime to be free…
First order rotational perturbations of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker metric are considered in the framework of the brane-world cosmological models. A rotation equation, relating the perturbations of the metric tensor to the angular velocity of the matter on the brane is derived under the assumption of slow rotation. The mathematical structure of the rotation equation imposes strong restrictions on the temporal and spatial dependence of the brane matter angular velocity. The study of the integrable cases of the rotation equation leads to three distinct models, which are considered in detail. …
A general class of cosmological models driven by a nonlocal scalar field inspired by the string field theory is studied. Using the fact that the considering linear nonlocal model is equivalent to an infinite number of local models we have found an exact special solution of the nonlocal Friedmann equations. This solution describes a monotonically increasing Universe with the phantom dark energy.
It is shown that only in the space-times admitting a 1+3-foliation by flat Cauchy hypesurfaces (i.e., in the Bianchi I type space-times the isotropic version of which the spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times are) the canonical quantization of geodesic motion and quantum-mechanics obtained as an asymptotics of the quantum theory of scalar field lead to the same canonical commutation relations (CCR). Otherwise, the field-theoretical approach leads to a deformation of CCR (particularly, operators of coordinates do not commute), and the Principle of Correspondence is broken in a s…
We illustrate the cosmological Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) models realized as gauge theory in the extended configuration space with its Becchi-Rouet-Stora-Tyutin (BRST) invariance upto total derivative. To investigate the model in Batalin-Vilkovisky (BV) formalism the Lagrangian density of the models is further extended by introducing shifted fields corresponding to all fields. The extended Lagrangian density having shifted fields admits more general BRST symmetry (including shift symmetry), called as extended BRST symmetry. In this framework the antighost fields corresponding to the shif…
In the scope of the nonlinear massive gravity, we study fixed points of evolution equations for a Bianchi type--I universe. We find a new attractor solution with non-vanishing anisotropy, on which the physical metric is isotropic but the Stuckelberg configuration is anisotropic. As a result, at the background level, the solution describes a homogeneous and isotropic universe, while a statistical anisotropy is expected from perturbations, suppressed by smallness of the graviton mass.
Recently, a Hamilton-Jacobi method beyond semiclassical approximation in black hole physics was developed by \emph{Banerjee} and \emph{Majhi}\cite{beyond0}. In this paper, we generalize their analysis of black holes to the case of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe. It is shown that all the higher order quantum corrections in the single particle action are proportional to the usual semiclassical contribution. The corrections to the Hawking-like temperature and entropy of apparent horizon for FRW universe are also obtained. In the corrected entropy, the area law involves logarithmic area…
In the first part of this work we review the equations of motion for the brane presented in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) form, when bulk is five-dimensional (A)dS Black Hole. The spacelike (timelike) FRW brane equations are considered from the point of view of their representation in the form similar to two-dimensional CFT entropy, so-called Cardy-Verlinde (CV) formula. The following five-dimensional gravities are reviewed: Einstein, Einstein-Maxwell and Einstein with brane quantum corrections. The second part of the work is devoted to study FRW brane equations and their representation in …
We completely classify the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker solutions with spatial curvature $K=0,\pm 1$ for perfect fluids with linear equation of state $p=wρ$, where $ρ$ and $p$ are the energy density and pressure, without assuming any energy conditions. We extend our previous work to include all geodesics and parallelly propagated curvature singularities, showing that no non-null geodesic emanates from or terminates at the null portion of conformal infinity and that the initial singularity for $K=0,-1$ and $-5/3<w<-1$ is a null non-scalar polynomial curvature singularity. We thus obtain …
We study the detector's response when moving along an ingoing null geodesic. The backgrounds are chosen to be black hole spacetimes ($(1+1)$ dimensional Schwarzschild metric and near horizon effective metric for any stationary black hole in arbitrary dimensions) as well as Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) Universe. For black holes the trajectories are defined in Schwarzschild coordinates and the field modes are corresponding to {\it Boulware vacuum}. Whereas for FLRW case, the detector is moving along the path defined in original {\it cosmic time} and the field modes are related to {…
In this paper we study the effects of quantum scalar field vacuum fluctuations on scalar test particles in an analog model for the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spatially flat geometry. In this scenario, the cases with one and two perfectly reflecting plane boundaries are considered as well the case without boundary. We find that the particles can undergo Brownian motion with a nonzero mean squared velocity induced by the quantum vacuum fluctuations due to the time dependent background and the presence of the boundaries. Typical singularities which appears due to the presence of the boundaries in…
With entropic interpretation of gravity proposed by Verlinde, we obtain the Friedmann equation of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe for the deformed Hořava-Lifshitz gravity. It is shown that, when the parameter of Hořava-Lifshitz gravity $ω\rightarrow \infty$, the modified Friedmann equation will go back to the one in Einstein gravity. This results may imply that the entropic interpretation of gravity is effective for the deformed Hořava-Lifshitz gravity.
In this paper, we study the thermodynamic quantities of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe by using the tunneling formalism beyond semiclassical approximation developed by \emph{Banerjee} and \emph{Majhi}\cite{beyond0}. For this we first calculate the corrected Hawking-like temperature on apparent horizon by considering both scalar particle and fermion tunneling. With this corrected Hawking-like temperature, the explicit expressions of the corrected entropy of apparent horizon for various gravity theories including Einstein gravity, Gauss-Bonnet gravity, Lovelock gravity, $f(R)$ gravity…
We examine the time evolution of the five-dimensional Einstein field equations subjected to a flat, anisotropic Robertson-Walker metric, where the 3D and higher-dimensional scale factors are allowed to dynamically evolve at different rates. By adopting equations of state relating the 3D and higher-dimensional pressures to the density, we obtain an exact expression relating the higher-dimensional scale factor to a function of the 3D scale factor. This relation allows us to write the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker field equations exclusively in terms of the 3D scale factor, thus yielding a set of 4D…
In this note by use of the holographic principle together with the equipartition law of energy and the Unruh temperature, we derive the Friedmann equations of a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe.
The present thesis is focused on the study of FLRW cosmology in modified gravities and with scalar fields. The mystery of dark energy has made that the last decade, many efforts in theoretical physics have been focused on the explanation of the current acceleration of the Universe expansion. On the other hand, an early accelerated epoch, known as inflation, is also required in the standard cosmological model in order to fit the observational data. Here, we study the possibility to explain both effects under the same mechanism, by means of scalar fields or modified gravity. In this sense, F(R) …
In this paper, we show that Padmanabhan's conjecture for the emergence of cosmic space [arXiv:1206.4916] holds for the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe in Einstein gravity but does not hold for the non-flat case unless one uses the aerial volume instead of the proper volume. Doing this, we also show that various works extending Padmanabhan's conjecture to non-Einstein and non-flat cases have serious shortfalls. This analysis is done using the Friedmann equation with the further assumptions of the holographic principle and the equipartition rule of energy.
We investigate the phenomenon of particle production in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe which contains a phase of de Sitter expansion for a finite interval, outside which it reduces to the flat Minkowski spacetime. We compute the particle number density for a massive scalar and a spinorial field and point out differences between the two cases. We find that the resulting particle density approaches a constant value at the scale of the Hubble time and that for a certain choice of the parameters the spectrum is precisely thermal for the spinorial field, and almost thermal for the scalar fie…
The cosmological Higgs vacuum stability has been an attractive research subject and it is crucial to accurately follow the development of the Higgs fluctuations. In this work, we thoroughly investigate how the vacuum fluctuations of the Higgs field affect the stability of the electroweak vacuum in Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) background. Adopting adiabatic (WKB) approximation or adiabatic regularization methods, we clearly show that vacuum fluctuations of the Higgs field in the FLRW background depend on the curvature and also masses of the Higgs or other scalar fields. The Higgs …
We construct and discuss Hadamard states for both scalar and Dirac spinor fields in a large class of spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetimes characterised by an initial phase either of exponential or of power-law expansion. The states we obtain can be interpreted as being in thermal equilibrium at the time when the scale factor a has a specific value a=a_0. In the case a_0=0, these states fulfil a strict KMS condition on the boundary of the spacetime, which is either a cosmological horizon, or a Big Bang hypersurface. Furthermore, in the conformally invariant case, they are confor…
Dynamics of brane-world models of dark energy is reviewed. We demonstrate that simple dark energy brane models can be represented as 2-dimensional dynamical systems of a Newtonian type. Hence a fictitious particle moving in a potential well characterizes the model. We investigate the dynamics of the brane models using methods of dynamical systems. The simple brane-world models can be successfully unified within a single scheme -- an ensemble of brane dark energy models. We characterize generic models of this ensemble as well as exceptional ones using the notion of structural stability (instabi…
We compute the leading order contribution to the stress-energy tensor corresponding to the modes of a quantum scalar field propagating in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with arbitrary coupling to the scalar curvature, whose exact mode functions can be expanded as an infinite adiabatic series. While for a massive field this is a good approximation for all modes when the mass of the field m is larger than the Hubble parameter H, for a massless field only the subhorizon modes with comoving wave-numbers larger than some fixed k* obeying k*/a>H can be analyzed in this way. As infinities comi…
One important global topological property of a spacetime manifold is orientability. It is widely believed that spatial orientability can only be tested by global journeys around the Universe to check for orientation-reversing closed paths. Since such global journeys are not feasible, theoretical arguments that combine universality of physical experiments with local arrow of time, CP violation and CPT invariance are usually offered to support the choosing of time- and space-orientable spacetime manifolds. The nonexistence of globally defined spinor fields on a non-orientable spacetime is anothe…
We investigate the Wightman function, the vacuum expectation values of the field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for a massless scalar field with general curvature coupling parameter in spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with an arbitrary number of toroidally compactified dimensions. The topological parts in the expectation values are explicitly extracted and in this way the renormalization is reduced to that for the model with trivial topology. In the limit when the comoving lengths of the compact dimensions are very short compared to the Hubble length, the topological…
We evaluate the Hadamard function, the vacuum expectation values (VEVs) of the field squared and the energy-momentum tensor for a massive scalar field with general curvature coupling parameter in the geometry of two parallel plates on a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background with a general scale factor. On the plates, the field operator obeys the Robin boundary conditions with the coefficients depending on the scale factor. In all the spatial regions, the VEVs are decomposed into the boundary-free and boundary-induced contributions. Unlike to the problem with the Minkowski bulk, …
The idea of a variable dark energy has been entertained many times in the literature and from many different points of view. Quintessence is just a popular way to implement this idea in recent times, but so far with little success. Another possibility is to think of the cosmological term, Lambda, as a ``running quantity'' much in the same way as the electromagnetic coupling constant. However, the fact that Lambda is a dimension-four parameter implies that it may obey a peculiar renormalization group equation, which at low energies could be dominated by ``soft decoupling'' contributions of the …
A late epoch cosmic acceleration may be naturally entangled with cosmic coincidence -- the observation that at the onset of acceleration the vacuum energy density fraction nearly coincides with the matter density fraction. In this Letter we show that this is indeed the case with the cosmology of a Friedmann-Lamaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) 3-brane in a five-dimensional anti-de Sitter spacetime. We derive the four-dimensional effective action on a FLRW 3-brane, which helps define a general reduction formula, namely, $M_P^{2}=ρ_{b}/|Λ_5|$, where $M_{P}$ is the effective Planck mass, $Λ_5$ is the…
The lack of energy conservation introduces new particle processes in curved spacetime that are forbidden in flat space. Therefore one has to be very cautious about using the results calculated in Minkowskian space in early universe applications. This is true for particle decay rates in particular, which need to be calculated using quantum field theory in curved spacetime. Previous studies are usually restricted to using minimal or conformal coupling for the decaying particle, while using a more general coupling would give deeper insight into particle decay. This paper presents the results we o…
In this study, we investigate the effects of the one and two-parameters deformed systems on the Friedmann equations of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe in the context of the entropic gravity approach. We give simplified forms for the deformed Unruh temperature and Einstein field equations for three different deformed systems. Based on these compact equations, we derive the Friedmann equations with the effective gravitational and cosmological constant.
We evaluate the two-point functions of the electromagnetic field in (D+1) -dimensional spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with a power-law scale factor, assuming that the field is prepared in the Bunch-Davies vacuum state. The range of powers are specified in which the two-point functions are infrared convergent and the Bunch-Davies vacuum for the electromagnetic field is a physically realizable state. The two-point functions are applied for the investigation of the vacuum expectation values of the field squared and the energy-momentum tensor, induced by a single and two paral…
The dissipative dynamics of an expanding massless gas with constant cross section in a spatially flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe is studied. The mathematical problem of solving the full nonlinear relativistic Boltzmann equation is recast into an infinite set of nonlinear ordinary differential equations for the moments of the one-particle distribution function. Momentum-space resolution is determined by the number of non-hydrodynamic modes included in the moment hierarchy, i.e., by the truncation order. We show that in the FLRW spacetime the non-hydrodynamic modes decou…
Stability analysis on the De Sitter universe in pure gravity theory is known to be useful in many aspects. We first show how to complete the proof of an earlier argument based on a redundant field equation. It is shown further that the stability condition applies to $k \ne 0$ Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spaces based on the non-redundant Friedmann equation derived from a simple effective Lagrangian. We show how to derive this expression for the Friedmann equation of pure gravity theory. This expression is also generalized to include scalar field interactions.
We completely classify Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker solutions with spatial curvature $K=0,\pm 1$ and equation of state $p=wρ$, according to their conformal structure, singularities and trapping horizons. We do not assume any energy conditions and allow $ρ< 0$, thereby going beyond the usual well-known solutions. For each spatial curvature, there is an initial spacelike big-bang singularity for $w>-1/3$ and $ρ>0$, while no big-bang singularity for $w<-1$ and $ρ>0$. For $K=0$ or $-1$, $-1<w<-1/3$ and $ρ>0$, there is an initial null big-bang singularity. For each spatial curvature, there i…
We investigate the phase-space of a flat FRW universe including both a scalar field, $ϕ,$ coupled to matter, and radiation. The model is inspired in scalar-tensor theories of gravity, and thus, related with $F(R)$ theories through conformal transformation. The aim of the chapter is to extent several results to the more realistic situation when radiation is included in the cosmic budget particularly for studying the early time dynamics. Under mild conditions on the potential we prove that the equilibrium points corresponding to the non-negative local minima for $V(ϕ)$ are asymptotically stable.…
We analyze the dynamics of a single scalar field in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universes with spatial curvature. We obtain the fixed point solutions which are shown to be late time attractors. In particular, we determine the corresponding scalar field potentials which correspond to these stable solutions. The analysis is quite general and incorporates expanding and contracting universes with both positive and negative scalar potentials. We demonstrate that the known power law, exponential, and de-Sitter solutions are certain limits of our general set of solutions.
For a 4-dimensional spatially-flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with a scalar field $ϕ(x)$, potential $V(ϕ)$ and constant equation of state $w=p/ρ$, we show that an expanding solution characterized by $ε=3(1+w)/2$ produces the same scalar perturbations as a contracting solution with $\hatε=1/ε$. The same symmetry applies to both the dominant and subdominant scalar perturbation modes. This result admits a simple physical interpretation and generalizes to $d$ spacetime dimensions if we define $ε\equiv [(2d-5)+(d-1)w]/(d-2)$.