Form Invariance of Differential Equations in General Relativity

Einstein equations for several matter sources in Robertson-Walker and Bianchi I type metrics, are shown to reduce to a kind of second order nonlinear ordinary differential equation $\ddot{y}+\alpha f(y)\dot{y}+\beta f(y)\int{f(y) dy}+\gamma f(y)=0$. Also, it appears in the generalized statistical mechanics for the most interesting value q=-1. The invariant form of this equation is imposed and the corresponding nonlocal transformation is obtained. The linearization of that equation for any $\alpha, \beta$ and $\gamma$ is presented and for the important case $f=by^n+k$ with $\beta=\alpha ^2 (n+1)/((n+2)^2)$ its explicit general solution is found. Moreover, the form invariance is applied to yield exact solutions of same other differential equations.Comment: 22 pages, RevTeX; to appear in J. Math. Phy

Exactly solved models of interacting dark matter and dark energy

We introduce an effective one-fluid description of the interacting dark sector in a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-time and investigate the stability of the power-law solutions. We find the "source equation" for the total energy density and determine the energy density of each dark component. We study linear and nonlinear interactions which depend on the dark matter and dark energy densities, their first derivatives, the total energy density with its derivatives up to second order and the scale factor. We solve the evolution equations of the dark components for both interactions, examine exhaustively several examples and show cases where the problem of the coincidence is alleviated. We show that a generic nonlinear interaction gives rise to the "relaxed Chaplygin gas model" whose effective equation of state includes the variable modified Chaplygin gas model while some others nonlinear interactions yield de Sitter and power-law scenarios.Comment: To appear in the proceedings of the CosmoSul conference, held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, 01-05 august of 2011. References adde

Linear and nonlinear interactions in the dark sector

We investigate models of interacting dark matter and dark energy for the universe in a spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) space-time. We find the "source equation" for the total energy density and determine the energy density of each dark component. We introduce an effective one-fluid description to evidence that interacting and unified models are related with each other, analyze the effective model and obtain the attractor solutions. We study linear and nonlinear interactions, the former comprises a linear combination of the dark matter and dark energy densities, their first derivatives, the total energy density, its first and second derivatives and a function of the scale factor. The latter is a possible generalization of the linear interaction consisting of an aggregate of the above linear combination and a significant nonlinear term built with a rational function of the dark matter and dark energy densities homogeneous of degree one. We solve the evolution equations of the dark components for both interactions and examine exhaustively several examples. There exist cases where the effective one-fluid description produces different alternatives to the \LaCDM model and cases where the problem of coincidence is alleviated. In addition, we find that some nonlinear interactions yield an effective one-fluid model with a Chaplygin gas equation of state, whereas others generate cosmological models with de Sitter and power-law expansions. We show that a generic nonlinear interaction induces an effective equation of state which depends on the scale factor in the same way that the variable modified Chaplygin gas model, giving rise to the "relaxed Chaplygin gas model".Comment: Accepted for publication in PR

Interacting fluids generating identical, dual and phantom cosmologies

We find the group of symmetry transformations generated by interacting fluids in spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spacetime which links cosmologies with the same scale factor {\it (identity)} or with scale factors $a$ and $a^{-1}$ {\it (duality)}. There exists a duality between contracting and superaccelerated expanding scenarios associated with {\it (phantom)} cosmologies. We investigate the action of this symmetry group on self-interacting minimally(conformally) coupled quintessence and $k$-essence cosmologies.Comment: 5 pages, revised version accepted for publication in PL

k-essence and extended tachyons in brane-worlds

We study a k-essence field evolving linearly with the cosmic time and the atypical k-essence model on a homogeneous and isotropic flat 3-brane. We show that the k-field is driven by an inverse quadratic polynomial potential. The solutions represent expanding, contracting or bouncing universes with a finite time span and some of them end in a big crunch or a big rip. Besides, by selecting the extended tachyonic kinetic functions we analyze the high and low energy limits of our model, obtaining the nearly power law solution. We introduce a tachyon field with negative energy density and show that the universe evolves between two singularities.Comment: 4 pages, jpconf.cls, to appear in Proceedings of Spanish Relativity Meeting 2009 (ERE 09

Comments on Unified dark energy and dark matter from a scalar field different from quintessence

In a recent paper by C. Gao, M. Kunz, A. Liddle and D. Parkinson [arXiv:0912.0949], the unification of dark matter and dark energy was explored within a theory containing a scalar field of non-Lagrangian type. This scalar field, different from the classic quintessence, can be obtained from the scalar field representation of an interacting two-fluid mixture described in the paper by L.P. Chimento and M. Forte [arXiv:0706.4142