Wormholes in exponential f(R,T)f(R,T) gravity

Alternative gravity is nowadays an extremely important tool to address some persistent observational issues, such as the dark sector of the universe. They can also be applied to stellar astrophysics, leading to outcomes one step ahead of those obtained through General Relativity. In the present article we test a novel $f(R,T)$ gravity model within the physics and geometry of wormholes. The $f(R,T)$ gravity is a reputed alternative gravity theory in which the Ricci scalar $R$ in the Einstein-Hilbert gravitational lagrangian is replaced by a general function of $R$ and $T$, namely $f(R,T)$, with $T$ representing the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. We propose, for the first time in the literature, an exponential form for the dependence of the theory on $T$. We derive the field equations as well as the non-continuity equation and solve those to wormhole metric and energy-momentum tensor. The importance of applying alternative gravity to wormholes is that through these theories it might be possible to obtain wormhole solutions satisfying the energy conditions, departing from General Relativity well-known outcomes. In this article, we indeed show that it is possible to obtain wormhole solutions satisfying the energy conditions in the exponential $f(R,T)$ gravity. Naturally, there is still a lot to do with this model, as cosmological, galactical and stellar astrophysics applications, and the reader is strongly encouraged to do so, but, anyhow, one can see the present outcomes as a good indicative for the theory.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, To appear in European Physical Journal

The simplest non-minimal matter-geometry coupling in the f(R,T)f(R,T) cosmology

The $f(R,T)$ gravity is an extended theory of gravity in which the gravitational action contains general terms of both the Ricci scalar $R$ and trace of the energy-momentum tensor $T$. In this way, $f(R,T)$ models are capable of describing a non-minimal coupling between geometry (through terms in $R$) and matter (through terms in $T$). In this article we construct a cosmological model from the simplest non-minimal matter-geometry coupling within the $f(R,T)$ gravity formalism, by means of an effective energy-momentum tensor, given by the sum of the usual matter energy-momentum tensor with a dark energy contribution, with the latter coming from the matter-geometry coupling terms. We apply the energy conditions to our solutions in order to obtain a range of values for the free parameters of the model which yield a healthy and well-behaved scenario. For some values of the free parameters which are submissive to the energy conditions application, it is possible to predict a transition from a decelerated period of the expansion of the universe to a period of acceleration (dark energy era). We also propose further applications of this particular case of the $f(R,T)$ formalism in order to check its reliability in other fields, rather than cosmology.Comment: 8 pages (two column) 9 figure

The importance of scalar fields as extradimensional metric components in Kaluza-Klein models

Extradimensional models are achieving their highest popularity nowadays, among other reasons, because they can plausible explain some standard cosmology issues, such as the cosmological constant and hierarchy problems. In extradimensional models, we can infer that the four-dimensional matter rises as a geometric manifestation of the extra coordinate. In this way, although we still cannot see the extra dimension, we can relate it to physical quantities that are able to exert such a mechanism of matter induction in the observable universe. In this work we propose that scalar fields are those physical quantities. The models here presented are purely geometrical in the sense that no matter lagrangian is assumed and even the scalar fields are contained in the extradimensional metric. The results are capable of describing different observable cosmic features and yield an alternative to ultimately understand the extra dimension and the mechanism in which it is responsible for the creation of matter in the observable universe