Inflation driven by scalar field with non-minimal kinetic coupling with Higgs and quadratic potentials

We study a scalar field with non-minimal kinetic coupling to itself and to the curvature. The slow rolling conditions allowing an inflationary background have been found. The quadratic and Higgs type potentials have been considered, and the corresponding values for the scalar fields at the end of inflation allows to recover the connection with particle physics.Comment: 16 pages, to appear in JCA

Estimating the abundance of clustered and cryptic marine macro-invertebrates in the Galápagos with particular reference to sea cucumbers

Estimating the abundance of marine macro-invertebrates is complicated by a variety of factors: 1) human factors, such as diver efficiency and diver error; and 2) biological factors, such as aggregation of organisms, crypsis, and nocturnal emergence behavior. Diver efficiency varied according to the detectability of an organism causing under-estimation of density by up to 50% in some species. All common species were aggregated at scales from 10-50 m. Transects need to be long enough to transcend the scale of patchiness to improve accuracy. Some species of sea urchins and sea cucumbers (pepinos) which are cryptic by day emerged at night so that daytime censuses underestimated their abundance by up to 10 times. In the sea cucumber fishery, estimates of abundance need to be made at the scale of the population, i.e. at hundreds of km. A strategy for this is proposed

Dark energy from scalar field with Gauss Bonnet and non-minimal kinetic coupling

We study a model of scalar field with a general non-minimal kinetic coupling to itself and to the curvature, and additional coupling to the Gauss Bonnet 4-dimensional invariant. The model presents rich cosmological dynamics and some of its solutions are analyzed. A variety of scalar fields and potentials giving rise to power-law expansion have been found. The dynamical equation of state is studied for two cases, with and without free kinetic term . In both cases phenomenologically acceptable solutions have been found. Some solutions describe essentially dark energy behavior, and and some solutions contain the decelerated and accelerated phases.Comment: 21 page

Exact solutions in a scalar-tensor model of dark energy

We consider a model of scalar field with non minimal kinetic and Gauss Bonnet couplings as a source of dark energy. Based on asymptotic limits of the generalized Friedmann equation, we impose restrictions on the kinetic an Gauss-Bonnet couplings. This restrictions considerable simplify the equations, allowing for exact solutions unifying early time matter dominance with transitions to late time quintessence and phantom phases. The stability of the solutions in absence of matter has been studied.Comment: 30 pages, 2 figures, to appear in JCA

Age problem in holographic dark energy

We study the age problem of the universe with the holographic DE model introduced in [21], and test the model with some known old high redshift objects (OHRO). The parameters of the model have been constrained using the SNIa, CMB and BAO data set. We found that the age of the old quasar APM 08 279+5255 at z = 3.91 can be described by the model.Comment: 13 page

Scalar wormholes with nonminimal derivative coupling

We consider static spherically symmetric wormhole configurations in a gravitational theory of a scalar field with a potential $V(\phi)$ and nonminimal derivative coupling to the curvature describing by the term $(\epsilon g_{\mu\nu} + \kappa G_{\mu\nu}) \phi^{,\mu}\phi^{,\nu}$ in the action. We show that the flare-out conditions providing the geometry of a wormhole throat could fulfilled both if $\epsilon=-1$ (phantom scalar) and $\epsilon=+1$ (ordinary scalar). Supposing additionally a traversability, we construct numerical solutions describing traversable wormholes in the model with arbitrary $\kappa$, $\epsilon=-1$ and $V(\phi)=0$ (no potential). The traversability assumes that the wormhole possesses two asymptotically flat regions with corresponding Schwarzschild masses. We find that asymptotical masses of a wormhole with nonminimal derivative coupling could be positive and/or negative depending on $\kappa$. In particular, both masses are positive only provided $\kappa<\kappa_1\le0$, otherwise one or both wormhole masses are negative. In conclusion, we give qualitative arguments that a wormhole configuration with positive masses could be stable.Comment: 17 pages, 8 figure

Renormalization Group Flow of Quantum Gravity in the Einstein-Hilbert Truncation

The exact renormalization group equation for pure quantum gravity is used to derive the non-perturbative \Fbeta-functions for the dimensionless Newton constant and cosmological constant on the theory space spanned by the Einstein-Hilbert truncation. The resulting coupled differential equations are evaluated for a sharp cutoff function. The features of these flow equations are compared to those found when using a smooth cutoff. The system of equations with sharp cutoff is then solved numerically, deriving the complete renormalization group flow of the Einstein-Hilbert truncation in $d=4$. The resulting renormalization group trajectories are classified and their physical relevance is discussed. The non-trivial fixed point which, if present in the exact theory, might render Quantum Einstein Gravity nonperturbatively renormalizable is investigated for various spacetime dimensionalities.Comment: 58 pages, latex, 24 figure