11 research outputs found
The Adiabatic Instability on Cosmology's Dark Side
We consider theories with a nontrivial coupling between the matter and dark
energy sectors. We describe a small scale instability that can occur in such
models when the coupling is strong compared to gravity, generalizing and
correcting earlier treatments. The instability is characterized by a negative
sound speed squared of an effective coupled dark matter/dark energy fluid. Our
results are general, and applicable to a wide class of coupled models and
provide a powerful, redshift-dependent tool, complementary to other
constraints, with which to rule many of them out. A detailed analysis and
applications to a range of models are presented in a longer companion paper.Comment: 4 pages, 1 figur
The accelerating universe and a limiting curvature proposal
We consider the hypothesis of a limiting minimal curvature in gravity as a
way to construct a class of theories exhibiting late-time cosmic acceleration.
Guided by the minimal curvature conjecture (MCC) we are naturally lead to a set
of scalar tensor theories in which the scalar is non-minimally coupled both to
gravity and to the matter Lagrangian. The model is compared to the Lambda Cold
Dark Matter concordance model and to the observational data using the gold
SNeIa sample of Riess et. al. (2004). An excellent fit to the data is achieved.
We present a toy model designed to demonstrate that such a new, possibly
fundamental, principle may be responsible for the recent period of cosmological
acceleration. Observational constraints remain to be imposed on these models.Comment: 22 pages, 7 figures; revised version to appear in JCAP; references
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Primordial Neutrinos, Cosmological Perturbations in Interacting Dark-Energy Model: CMB and LSS
We present cosmological perturbation theory in neutrinos probe interacting
dark-energy models, and calculate cosmic microwave background anisotropies and
matter power spectrum. In these models, the evolution of the mass of neutrinos
is determined by the quintessence scalar field, which is responsible for the
cosmic acceleration today. We consider several types of scalar field potentials
and put constraints on the coupling parameter between neutrinos and dark
energy. Assuming the flatness of the universe, the constraint we can derive
from the current observation is at the 95 % confidence
level for the sum over three species of neutrinos. We also discuss on the
stability issue of the our model and on the impact of the scattering term in
Boltzmann equation from the mass-varying neutrinos.Comment: 26 pages Revtex, 11 figures, Add new contents and reference
On globally static and stationary cosmologies with or without a cosmological constant and the Dark Energy problem
In the framework of spatially averaged inhomogeneous cosmologies in classical
General Relativity, effective Einstein equations govern the regional and the
global dynamics of averaged scalar variables of cosmological models. A
particular solution may be characterized by a cosmic equation of state. In this
paper it is pointed out that a globally static averaged dust model is
conceivable without employing a compensating cosmological constant. Much in the
spirit of Einstein's original model we discuss consequences for the global, but
also for the regional properties of this cosmology. We then consider the wider
class of globally stationary cosmologies that are conceivable in the presented
framework. All these models are based on exact solutions of the averaged
Einstein equations and provide examples of cosmologies in an out-of-equilibrium
state, which we characterize by an information-theoretical measure. It is shown
that such cosmologies preserve high-magnitude kinematical fluctuations and so
tend to maintain their global properties. The same is true for a
driven cosmos in such a state despite of exponential expansion. We
outline relations to inflationary scenarios, and put the Dark Energy problem
into perspective. Here, it is argued, on the grounds of the discussed
cosmologies, that a classical explanation of Dark Energy through backreaction
effects is theoretically conceivable, if the matter-dominated Universe emerged
from a non-perturbative state in the vicinity of the stationary solution. We
also discuss a number of caveats that furnish strong counter arguments in the
framework of structure formation in a perturbed Friedmannian model.Comment: 33 pages, matches published version in Class. Quant. Gra
Correspondence between kinematical backreaction and scalar field cosmologies - the `morphon field'
Spatially averaged inhomogeneous cosmologies in classical general relativity
can be written in the form of effective Friedmann equations with sources that
include backreaction terms. In this paper we propose to describe these
backreaction terms with the help of a homogeneous scalar field evolving in a
potential; we call it the `morphon field'. This new field links classical
inhomogeneous cosmologies to scalar field cosmologies, allowing to reinterpret,
e.g., quintessence scenarios by routing the physical origin of the scalar field
source to inhomogeneities in the Universe. We investigate a one-parameter
family of scaling solutions to the backreaction problem. Subcases of these
solutions (all without an assumed cosmological constant) include
scale-dependent models with Friedmannian kinematics that can mimic the presence
of a cosmological constant or a time-dependent cosmological term. We explicitly
reconstruct the scalar field potential for the scaling solutions, and discuss
those cases that provide a solution to the Dark Energy and coincidence
problems. In this approach, Dark Energy emerges from morphon fields, a
mechanism that can be understood through the proposed correspondence: the
averaged cosmology is characterized by a weak decay (quintessence) or growth
(phantom quintessence) of kinematical fluctuations, fed by `curvature energy'
that is stored in the averaged 3-Ricci curvature. We find that the late-time
trajectories of those models approach attractors that lie in the future of a
state that is predicted by observational constraints.Comment: 36 pages and 6 Figures, matches published version in Class.Quant.Gra
Effects of the interaction between dark energy and dark matter on cosmological parameters
We examine the effects of possible phenomenological interactions between dark
energy and dark matter on cosmological parameters and their efficiency in
solving the coincidence problem. We work with two simple parameterizations of
the dynamical dark energy equation of state and the constant dark energy
equation of state. Using observational data coming from the new 182 Gold type
Ia supernova samples, the shift parameter of the Cosmic Microwave Background
given by the three-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe observations, and
the baryon acoustic oscillation measurement from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey,
we perform a statistical joint analysis of different forms of phenomenological
interactions between dark energy and dark matter.Comment: revised version, accepted for publication in JCA
The State of the Dark Energy Equation of State
By combining data from seven cosmic microwave background experiments
(including the latest WMAP results) with large scale structure data, the Hubble
parameter measurement from the Hubble Space Telescope and luminosity
measurements of Type Ia supernovae we demonstrate the bounds on the dark energy
equation of state to be at the 95% confidence level.
Although our limit on is improved with respect to previous analyses,
cosmological data does not rule out the possibility that the equation of state
parameter of the dark energy is less than -1. We present a tracking
model that ensures at recent times and discuss the observational
consequences.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, added a referenc
Cheng-Weyl Vector Field and its Cosmological Application
Weyl's idea on scale invariance was resurrected by Cheng in 1988. The
requirement of local scale invariance leads to a completely new vector field,
which we call the ``Cheng-Weyl vector field''. The Cheng-Weyl vector field
couples only to a scalar field and the gravitational field naturally. It does
not interact with other known matters in the standard model of particle
physics. In the present work, the (generalized) Cheng-Weyl vector field coupled
with the scalar field and its cosmological application are investigated. A
mixture of the scalar field and a so-called ``cosmic triad'' of three mutually
orthogonal Cheng-Weyl vector fields is regarded as the dark energy in the
universe. The cosmological evolution of this ``mixed'' dark energy model is
studied. We find that the effective equation-of-state parameter of the dark
energy can cross the phantom divide in some cases; the first and
second cosmological coincidence problems can be alleviated at the same time in
this model.Comment: 16 pages, revtex4; v2: references added; v3: discussions added, to
appear in JCAP; v4: published versio