Testing a DBI model for the unification of dark matter and dark energy with Gamma-Ray Bursts

We study the range of consistency of a model based on a nonlinear scalar field Dirac-Born-Infeld action for the unification of dark matter and dark energy using Gamma-Ray Bursts at high-redshifts. We use the sample of 59 high-redshift GRBs reported by Wei (2010), calibrated at low redshifts with the Union 2 sample of SNe Ia, thus avoiding the circularity problem. In this analysis, we also include the CMB7-year data and the baryonic acoustic peak BAO. Besides, it is calculated the parameter of the equation of state $w$, the deceleration parameter $q_0$ and the redshift of the transition to the decelerate-accelerated phase $z_t$.Comment: 6 pages, to appear in Proceedings of Spanish Relativity Meeting 2011 (ERE 2011) held in Madrid, Spai

Observational constraints on the unified dark matter and dark energy model based on the quark bag model

In this work we investigate if a small fraction of quarks and gluons, which escaped hadronization and survived as a uniformly spread perfect fluid, can play the role of both dark matter and dark energy. This fluid, as developed in \citep{Brilenkov}, is characterized by two main parameters: $\beta$, related to the amount of quarks and gluons which act as dark matter; and $\gamma$, acting as the cosmological constant. We explore the feasibility of this model at cosmological scales using data from type Ia Supernovae (SNeIa), Long Gamma-Ray Bursts (LGRB) and direct observational Hubble data. We find that: (i) in general, $\beta$ cannot be constrained by SNeIa data nor by LGRB or H(z) data; (ii) $\gamma$ can be constrained quite well by all three data sets, contributing with $\approx78\%$ to the energy-matter content; (iii) when a strong prior on (only) baryonic matter is assumed, the two parameters of the model are constrained successfully.Comment: 10 pages, 6 figures, 3 table

Bayesian analysis for a class of α\alpha-attractor inflationary models

We perform a Bayesian study of a generalization of the basic $\alpha$-attractor T model given by the potential $V(\phi)=V_0\left[1-\text{sech}^{p}\left(\phi/\sqrt{6\alpha}M_{pl}\right)\right]$ where $\phi$ is the inflaton field and the parameter $\alpha$ corresponds to the inverse curvature of the scalar manifold in the conformal or superconformal realizations of the attractor models. Such generalization is characterized by the power $p$ which includes the basic or base model for $p=2$. Once the priors for the parameters of the $\alpha$-attractor potential are set by numerical exploration, we perform the corresponding statistical analysis for the cases $p=1\, , 2\, , 3\, ,4$, and derive posteriors. Considering the original $\alpha$-attractor potential as the base model, we calculate the evidence for our generalization, and conclude that the $p=4$ model is preferred by the CMB data. We also present constraints for the parameter $\alpha$. Interestingly, all the cases studied prefer a specific value for the tensor-to-scalar ratio given by $r\simeq 0.0025$.Comment: 16 pages, 8 figures, 3 table