4,826 research outputs found
A Strong Constraint on Ever-Present Lambda
We show that the causal set approach to creating an ever-present cosmological
'constant' in the expanding universe is strongly constrained by the isotropy of
the microwave background. Fluctuations generated by stochastic lambda
generation which are consistent with COBE and WMAP observations are far too
small to dominate the expansion dynamics at z<1000 and so cannot explain the
observed late-time acceleration of the universe. We also discuss other
observational constraints from the power spectrum of galaxy clustering and show
that the theoretical possibility of ever-present lambda arises only in 3+1
dimensional space-times.Comment: 5 pages, minor additions, published versio
Simple Types of Anisotropic Inflation
We display some simple cosmological solutions of gravity theories with
quadratic Ricci curvature terms added to the Einstein-Hilbert lagrangian which
exhibit anisotropic inflation. The Hubble expansion rates are constant and
unequal in three orthogonal directions. We describe the evolution of the
simplest of these homogeneous and anisotropic cosmological models from its
natural initial state and evaluate the deviations they will create from
statistical isotropy in the fluctuations produced during a period of
anisotropic inflation. The anisotropic inflation is not a late-time attractor
in these models but the rate of approach to a final isotropic de Sitter state
is slow and is conducive to the creation of observable anisotropic statistical
effects in the microwave background. The statistical anisotropy would not be
scale invariant and the level of statistical anisotropy will grow with scale.Comment: 8pages, 3 figs v2:refs added, typos fixe
Stable Isotropic Cosmological Singularities in Quadratic Gravity
We show that, in quadratic lagrangian theories of gravity, isotropic
cosmological singularities are stable to the presence of small scalar, vector
and tensor inhomogeneities. Unlike in general relativity, a particular exact
isotropic solution is shown to be the stable attractor on approach to the
initial cosmological singularity. This solution is also known to act as an
attractor in Bianchi universes of types I, II and IX, and the results of this
paper reinforce the hypothesis that small inhomogeneous and anisotropic
perturbations of this attractor form part of the general cosmological solution
to the field equations of quadratic gravity. Implications for the existence of
a 'gravitational entropy' are also discussed.Comment: 18 pages, no figure
Cosmological Co-evolution of Yang-Mills Fields and Perfect Fluids
We study the co-evolution of Yang-Mills fields and perfect fluids in Bianchi
type I universes. We investigate numerically the evolution of the universe and
the Yang-Mills fields during the radiation and dust eras of a universe that is
almost isotropic. The Yang-Mills field undergoes small amplitude chaotic
oscillations, which are also displayed by the expansion scale factors of the
universe. The results of the numerical simulations are interpreted analytically
and compared with past studies of the cosmological evolution of magnetic fields
in radiation and dust universes. We find that, whereas magnetic universes are
strongly constrained by the microwave background anisotropy, Yang-Mills
universes are principally constrained by primordial nucleosynthesis and the
bound is comparatively weak, and Omega_YM < 0.105 Omega_rad.Comment: 13 pages, 5 figures, submitted to PR
Cosmological Bounds on Spatial Variations of Physical Constants
We derive strong observational limits on any possible large-scale spatial
variation in the values of physical 'constants' whose space-time evolution is
driven by a scalar field. The limits are imposed by the isotropy of the
microwave background on large angular scales in theories which describe space
and time variations in the fine structure constant, the electron-proton mass
ratio, and the Newtonian gravitational constant, G. Large-scale spatial
fluctuations in the fine structure constant are bounded by 2x10^-9 and
1.2x10^-8 in the BSBM and VSL theories respectively, fluctuations in the
electron-proton mass ratio by 9x10^-5 in the BM theory and fluctuations in G by
3.6x10^-10 in Brans-Dicke theory. These derived bounds are significantly
stronger than any obtainable by direct observations of astrophysical objects at
the present time.Comment: 13 pages, 1 table, typos corrected, refs added. Published versio
Cosmologies with Energy Exchange
We provide a simple mathematical description of the exchange of energy
between two fluids in an expanding Friedmann universe with zero spatial
curvature. The evolution can be reduced to a single non-linear differential
equation which we solve in physically relevant cases and provide an analysis of
all the possible evolutions. Particular power-law solutions exist for the
expansion scale factor and are attractors at late times under particular
conditions. We show how a number of problems studied in the literature, such as
cosmological vacuum energy decay, particle annihilation, and the evolution of a
population of evaporating black holes, correspond to simple particular cases of
our model. In all cases we can determine the effects of the energy transfer on
the expansion scale factor. We also consider the situation in the presence of
anti-decaying fluids and so called phantom fluids which violate the dominant
energy conditions.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figur
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
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
Anisotropically Inflating Universes
We show that in theories of gravity that add quadratic curvature invariants
to the Einstein-Hilbert action there exist expanding vacuum cosmologies with
positive cosmological constant which do not approach the de Sitter universe.
Exact solutions are found which inflate anisotropically. This behaviour is
driven by the Ricci curvature invariant and has no counterpart in the general
relativistic limit. These examples show that the cosmic no-hair theorem does
not hold in these higher-order extensions of general relativity and raises new
questions about the ubiquity of inflation in the very early universe and the
thermodynamics of gravitational fields.Comment: 5 pages, further discussion and references adde
Stellar footprints of a variable G
Theories with varying gravitational constant have been studied since long
time ago. Among them, the most promising candidates as alternatives of the
standard General Relativity are known as scalar-tensor theories. They provide
consistent descriptions of the observed universe and arise as the low energy
limit of several pictures of unified interactions. Therefore, an increasing
interest on the astrophysical consequences of such theories has been sparked
over the last few years. In this essay we comment on two methodological
approaches to study evolution of astrophysical objects within a varying-
theory, and the particular results we have obtained for boson and white dwarf
stars.Comment: This essay received Honorable Mention in the 1999 Essay Competition
of the Gravity Research Foundatio
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