4,984 research outputs found
A New Solution of The Cosmological Constant Problems
We extend the usual gravitational action principle by promoting the bare
cosmological constant (CC) from a parameter to a field which can take many
possible values. Variation leads to a new integral constraint equation which
determines the classical value of the effective CC that dominates the wave
function of the universe. In a realistic cosmological model, the expected value
of the effective CC, is calculated from measurable quantities to be O(t_U), as
observed, where t_U is the present age of the universe in Planck units,. Any
application of our model produces a falsifiable prediction for in
terms of other measurable quantities. This leads to a specific falsifiable
prediction for the observed spatial curvature parameter of Omega_k0=-0.0055.
Our testable proposal requires no fine tunings or extra dark-energy fields but
does suggest a new view of time and cosmological evolution.Comment: 5 pages; v3: version accepted by Phys. Rev. Let
New Isotropic and Anisotropic Sudden Singularities
We show the existence of an infinite family of finite-time singularities in
isotropically expanding universes which obey the weak, strong, and dominant
energy conditions. We show what new type of energy condition is needed to
exclude them ab initio. We also determine the conditions under which
finite-time future singularities can arise in a wide class of anisotropic
cosmological models. New types of finite-time singularity are possible which
are characterised by divergences in the time-rate of change of the
anisotropic-pressure tensor. We investigate the conditions for the formation of
finite-time singularities in a Bianchi type universe with anisotropic
pressures and construct specific examples of anisotropic sudden singularities
in these universes.Comment: Typos corrected. Published versio
On the Possibility of Anisotropic Curvature in Cosmology
In addition to shear and vorticity a homogeneous background may also exhibit
anisotropic curvature. Here a class of spacetimes is shown to exist where the
anisotropy is solely of the latter type, and the shear-free condition is
supported by a canonical, massless 2-form field. Such spacetimes possess a
preferred direction in the sky and at the same time a CMB which is isotropic at
the background level. A distortion of the luminosity distances is derived and
used to test the model against the CMB and supernovae (using the Union
catalog), and it is concluded that the latter exhibit a higher-than-expected
dependence on angular position. It is shown that future surveys could detect a
possible preferred direction by observing ~ 20 / (\Omega_{k0}^2) supernovae
over the whole sky.Comment: Extended SNe analysis and corrected some CMB results. Text also
extended and references added. 8 pages, 5 figure
Bouncing Universes with Varying Constants
We investigate the behaviour of exact closed bouncing Friedmann universes in
theories with varying constants. We show that the simplest BSBM varying-alpha
theory leads to a bouncing universe. The value of alpha increases
monotonically, remaining approximately constant during most of each cycle, but
increasing significantly around each bounce. When dissipation is introduced we
show that in each new cycle the universe expands for longer and to a larger
size. We find a similar effect for closed bouncing universes in Brans-Dicke
theory, where also varies monotonically in time from cycle to cycle.
Similar behaviour occurs also in varying speed of light theories
Structure and stability of the Lukash plane-wave spacetime
We study the vacuum, plane-wave Bianchi spacetimes described by
the Lukash metric. Combining covariant with orthonormal frame techniques, we
describe these models in terms of their irreducible kinematical and geometrical
quantities. This covariant description is used to study analytically the
response of the Lukash spacetime to linear perturbations. We find that the
stability of the vacuum solution depends crucially on the background shear
anisotropy. The stronger the deviation from the Hubble expansion, the more
likely the overall linear instability of the model. Our analysis addresses
rotational, shear and Weyl curvature perturbations and identifies conditions
sufficient for the linear growth of these distortions.Comment: Revised version, references added. To appear in Class. Quantum Gra
Constraints on a Primordial Magnetic Field
We derive an upper limit of
Gauss on the present strength of any primordial homogeneous magnetic field. The
microwave background anisotropy created by cosmological magnetic fields is
calculated in the most general flat and open anisotropic cosmologies containing
expansion-rate and 3-curvature anisotropies. Our limit is derived from a
statistical analysis of the 4-year Cosmic Background Explorer data for
anisotropy patterns characteristic of homogeneous anisotropy averaged over all
possible sky orientations with respect to the COBE receiver. The limits we
obtain are considerably stronger than those imposed by primordial
nucleosynthesis and ensure that other magnetic field effects on the microwave
background structure are unobservably small.Comment: 4 pages, uses RevTex, submitted to PR
The role of weight normalization in competitive learning
The effect of different kinds of weight normalization on the outcome of a simple competitive learning rule is analyzed. It is shown that there are important differences in the representation formed depending on whether the constraint is enforced by dividing each weight by the same amount (''divisive enforcement'') or subtracting a fixed amount from each weight (''subtractive enforcement''). For the divisive cases weight vectors spread out over the space so as to evenly represent ''typical'' inputs, whereas for the subtractive cases the weight vectors tend to the axes of the space, so as to represent ''extreme'' inputs. The consequences of these differences are examined
- …