170 research outputs found
Some Adventures in the Search for a Modified Gravity Explanation for Cosmic Acceleration
The discovery of cosmic acceleration has raised the intriguing possibility
that we are witnessing the first breakdown of General Relativity on
cosmological scales. In this article I will briefly review current attempts to
construct a theoretically consistent and observationally viable modification of
gravity that is capable of describing the accelerating universe. I will discuss
f(R) models, and their obvious extensions, and the DGP model as an example of
extra-dimensional implementations. I will then briefly describe the Galileon
models and their very recent multifield and curved space extensions - a class
of four-dimensional effective field theories encoding extra dimensional
modifications to gravity. This article is dedicated to the career of my friend
and former colleague, Joshua Goldberg, and is written to appear in his
festschrift.Comment: 17 pages, to appear in a festschrift for Joshua Goldber
Global Structure of Deffayet (Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati) Cosmologies
We detail the global structure of the five-dimensional bulk for the
cosmological evolution of Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati braneworlds. The picture
articulated here provides a framework and intuition for understanding how
metric perturbations leave (and possibly reenter) the brane universe. A bulk
observer sees the braneworld as a relativistically expanding bubble, viewed
either from the interior (in the case of the
Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker phase) or the exterior (the
self-accelerating phase). Shortcuts through the bulk in the first phase can
lead to an apparent brane causality violation and provide an opportunity for
the evasion of the horizon problem found in conventional four-dimensional
cosmologies. Features of the global geometry in the latter phase anticipate a
depletion of power for linear metric perturbations on large scales.Comment: 15 pages, 4 figures, RevTeX. References adde
Effective field theory analysis of the self-interacting chameleon
We analyse the phenomenology of a self-interacting scalar field in the
context of the chameleon scenario originally proposed by Khoury and Weltman. In
the absence of self-interactions, this type of scalar field can mediate long
range interactions and simultaneously evade constraints from violation of the
weak equivalence principle. By applying to such a scalar field the effective
field theory method proposed for Einstein gravity by Goldberger and Rothstein,
we give a thorough perturbative evaluation of the importance of non-derivative
self-interactions in determining the strength of the chameleon mediated force
in the case of orbital motion. The self-interactions are potentially dangerous
as they can change the long range behaviour of the field. Nevertheless, we show
that they do not lead to any dramatic phenomenological consequence with respect
to the linear case and solar system constraints are fulfilled.Comment: 15 pages, 2 figures. Final version accepted for publication on
General Relativity and Gravitatio
Cosmic coincidence problem and variable constants of physics
The standard model of cosmology is investigated using time dependent
cosmological constant and Newton's gravitational constant . The
total energy content is described by the modified Chaplygin gas equation of
state. It is found that the time dependent constants coupled with the modified
Chaplygin gas interpolate between the earlier matter to the later dark energy
dominated phase of the universe. We also achieve a convergence of parameter
, with minute fluctuations, showing an evolving . Thus our
model fairly alleviates the cosmic coincidence problem which demands
at present time.Comment: 27 pages, 15 figure
Cosmological Constant, Gauge Hierarchy and Warped Geometry
It is suggested that the mechanism responsible for the resolution of the
gauge hierarchy problem within the warped geometry framework can be generalized
to provide a new explanation of the extremely tiny vacuum energy density rho_V
suggested by recent observations. We illustrate the mechanism with some 5D
examples in which the true vacuum energy is assumed to vanish, and rho_V is
associated with a false vacuum energy such that rho_V^{1/4} ~ TeV^2/M_{Pl} ~
10^{-3} eV, where M_{Pl} denotes the reduced Planck mass. We also consider a
quintessence-like solution to the dark energy problem.Comment: 10 pages, LaTeX, 2 figures, section on quantum corrections added,
version to appear in Phys. Rev.
Photoproduction of mesons in nuclei at GeV energies
In a transport model that combines initial state interactions of the photon
with final state interactions of the produced particles we present a
calculation of inclusive photoproduction of mesons in nuclei in the energy
range from 1 to 7 GeV. We give predictions for the photoproduction cross
sections of pions, etas, kaons, antikaons, and invariant mass
spectra in ^{12}C and ^{208}Pb. The effects of nuclear shadowing and final
state interaction of the produced particles are discussed in detail.Comment: Text added in summary in general reliability of the method,
references updated. Phys. Rev. C (2000) in pres
Interacting Modified Variable Chaplygin Gas in Non-flat Universe
A unified model of dark energy and matter is presented using the modified
variable Chaplygin gas for interacting dark energy in a non-flat universe. The
two entities interact with each other non-gravitationally which involves a
coupling constant. Due to dynamic interaction, the variation in this constant
arises that henceforth changes the equations of state of these quantities. We
have derived the effective equations of state corresponding to matter and dark
energy in this interacting model. Moreover, the case of phantom energy is
deduced by putting constraints on the parameters involved.Comment: 9 pages; Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal
Non linear equation of state and effective phantom divide in brane models
Here, DGP model of brane-gravity is analyzed and compared with the standard
general relativity and Randall-Sundrum cases using non-linear equation of
state. Phantom fluid is known to violate the weak energy condition. In this
paper, it is found that this characteristic of phantom energy is affected
drastically by the negative brane-tension of the RS-II model. It is
found that in DGP model strong energy condition(SEC) is always violated and the
universe accelerates only where as in RS-II model even SEC is not violated for
and the universe decelerates
Cosmic F- and D-strings
Macroscopic fundamental and Dirichlet strings have several potential
instabilities: breakage, tachyon decays, and confinement by axion domain walls.
We investigate the conditions under which metastable strings can exist, and we
find that such strings are present in many models. There are various
possibilities, the most notable being a network of (p,q) strings. Cosmic
strings give a potentially large window into string physics.Comment: 27 pages, 5 figures; v. 5: JHEP style, added comments in section 2.
The -essence scalar field in the context of Supernova Ia Observations
A -essence scalar field model having (non canonical) Lagrangian of the
form where
with constant is shown to be consistent with luminosity
distance-redshift data observed for type Ia Supernova. For constant ,
satisfies a scaling relation which is used to set up a differential
equation involving the Hubble parameter , the scale factor and the
-essence field . and are extracted from SNe Ia data and using
the differential equation the time dependence of the field is found to
be: . The constants
have been determined. The time dependence is similar to that of the
quintessence scalar field (having canonical kinetic energy) responsible for
homogeneous inflation. Furthermore, the scaling relation and the obtained time
dependence of the field is used to determine the -dependence of the
function .Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures, Late
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