Probing Cold Dark Matter Cusps by Gravitational Lensing

I elaborate on my prediction that an indirect detection of cold dark matter (CDM) may be possible by observing the gravitational lensing effects of the CDM cusp caustics at cosmological distances. Cusps in the distribution of CDM are plentiful once density perturbations enter the nonlinear regime of structure formation. Caustic ring model of galactic halo formation provides a well defined density profile and geometry near the cusps of the caustic rings. I calculate the gravitational lensing effects of the cusps in this model. As a pointlike background source passes behind a cusp of a cosmological foreground halo, the magnification in its image may be detected by present instruments. Depending on the strength of detected effect and the time scale of brightness change, it may even be possible to discriminate between the CDM candidates: axions and weakly interacting massive particles.Comment: Invited Contribution to the IJMPD Special Issue on Dark Matter and Dark Energy edited by D. Ahluwalia-Khalilova and D. Grumiller. To appear in Int. J. Mod. Phys. D Special December 2006 issu

Dissipative Future Universe without Big Rip

The present study deals with dissipative future universe without big rip in context of Eckart formalism. The generalized chaplygin gas, characterized by equation of state $p=-\frac{A}{\rho^\frac{1}{\alpha}}$, has been considered as a model for dark energy due to its dark-energy-like evolution at late time. It is demonstrated that, if the cosmic dark energy behaves like a fluid with equation of state $p=\omega\rho$; $\omega < -1$, as well as chaplygin gas simultaneously then the big rip problem does not arises and the scale factor is found to be regular for all time.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figures, To appear in Int. J. Theor. Phy

Cosmology with Interaction between Phantom Dark Energy and Dark Matter and the Coincidence Problem

We study a cosmological model in which phantom dark energy is coupled to dark matter by phenomenologically introducing a coupled term to the equations of motion of dark energy and dark matter. This term is parameterized by a dimensionless coupling function $\delta$, Hubble parameter and the energy density of dark matter, and it describes an energy flow between the dark energy and dark matter. We discuss two cases: one is the case where the equation-of-state $\omega_e$ of the dark energy is a constant; the other is that the dimensionless coupling function $\delta$ is a constant. We investigate the effect of the interaction on the evolution of the universe, the total lifetime of the universe, and the ratio of the period when the universe is in the coincidence state to its total lifetime. It turns out that the interaction will produce significant deviation from the case without the interaction.Comment: Latex, 17 pages including 14 figures, minor change

The Fermion Self-Energy during Inflation

We compute the one loop fermion self-energy for massless Dirac + Einstein in the presence of a locally de Sitter background. We employ dimensional regularization and obtain a fully renormalized result by absorbing all divergences with BPHZ counterterms. An interesting technical aspect of this computation is the need for a noninvariant counterterm owing to the breaking of de Sitter invariance by our gauge condition. Our result can be used in the quantum-corrected Dirac equation to search for inflation-enhanced quantum effects from gravitons, analogous to those which have been found for massless, minimally coupled scalars.Comment: 63 pages, 3 figures (uses axodraw.sty), LaTeX 2epsilon. Revised version (to appear in Classical and Quantum Gravity) corrects some typoes and contains some new reference

One-loop corrections to the curvature perturbation from inflation

An estimate of the one-loop correction to the power spectrum of the primordial curvature perturbation is given, assuming it is generated during a phase of single-field, slow-roll inflation. The loop correction splits into two parts, which can be calculated separately: a purely quantum-mechanical contribution which is generated from the interference among quantized field modes around the time when they cross the horizon, and a classical contribution which comes from integrating the effect of field modes which have already passed far beyond the horizon. The loop correction contains logarithms which may invalidate the use of naive perturbation theory for cosmic microwave background (CMB) predictions when the scale associated with the CMB is exponentially different from the scale at which the fundamental theory which governs inflation is formulated.Comment: 28 pages, uses feynmp.sty and ioplatex journal style. v2: supersedes version published in JCAP. Some corrections and refinements to the discussion and conclusions. v3: Corrects misidentification of quantum correction with an IR effect. Improvements to the discussio

Classical approximation to quantum cosmological correlations

We investigate up to which order quantum effects can be neglected in calculating cosmological correlation functions after horizon exit. As a toy model, we study $\phi^3$ theory on a de Sitter background for a massless minimally coupled scalar field $\phi$. We find that for tree level and one loop contributions in the quantum theory, a good classical approximation can be constructed, but for higher loop corrections this is in general not expected to be possible. The reason is that loop corrections get non-negligible contributions from loop momenta with magnitude up to the Hubble scale H, at which scale classical physics is not expected to be a good approximation to the quantum theory. An explicit calculation of the one loop correction to the two point function, supports the argument that contributions from loop momenta of scale $H$ are not negligible. Generalization of the arguments for the toy model to derivative interactions and the curvature perturbation leads to the conclusion that the leading orders of non-Gaussian effects generated after horizon exit, can be approximated quite well by classical methods. Furthermore we compare with a theorem by Weinberg. We find that growing loop corrections after horizon exit are not excluded, even in single field inflation.Comment: 44 pages, 1 figure; v2: corrected errors, added references, conclusions unchanged; v3: added section in which we compare with stochastic approach; this version matches published versio

CMBR Constraint on a Modified Chaplygin Gas Model

In this paper, a modified Chaplygin gas model of unifying dark energy and dark matter with exotic equation of state $p=B\rho-\frac{A}{\rho^{\alpha}}$ which can also explain the recent accelerated expansion of the universe is investigated by the means of constraining the location of the peak of the CMBR spectrum. We find that the result of CMBR measurements does not exclude the nonzero value of parameter $B$, but allows it in the range $-0.35\lesssim B\lesssim0.025$.Comment: 4 pages, 3 figure

The dS/CFT Correspondence and the Big Smash

Recent observations suggest that the cosmological equation-of-state parameter w is close to -1. To say this is to imply that w could be slightly less than -1, which leads to R.Caldwell's "Phantom cosmologies". These often have the property that they end in a "Big Smash", a final singularity in which the Universe is destroyed in a finite proper time by excessive *expansion*. We show that, classically, this fate is not inevitable: there exist Smash-free Phantom cosmologies, obtained by a suitable perturbation of the deSitter equation of state, in which the spacetime is in fact asymptotically deSitter. [Contrary to popular belief, such cosmologies, which violate the Dominant Energy Condition, do not necessarily violate causality.] We also argue, however, that the physical interpretation of these classically acceptable spacetimes is radically altered by ``holography'', as manifested in the dS/CFT correspondence. It is shown that, if the boundary CFTs have conventional properties, then recent ideas on "time as an inverse renormalization group flow" can be used to rule out these cosmologies. Very recently, however, it has been argued that the CFTs in dS/CFT are of a radically unconventional form, and this opens up the possibility that Smash-free Phantom spacetimes offer a simple model of a "bouncing" cosmology in which the quantum-mechanical entanglement of the field theories in the infinite past and future plays an essential role.Comment: 22 pages, clarification of triple analytic continuation, additional Comments added in the light of hep-th/020724

Dark energy from conformal symmetry breaking

The breakdown of conformal symmetry in a conformally invariant scalar-tensor gravitational model is revisited in the cosmological context. Although the old scenario of conformal symmetry breaking in cosmology containing scalar field has already been used in many earlier works, it seems that no special attention has been paid for the investigation on the possible connection between the breakdown of conformal symmetry and the existence of dark energy. In this paper, it is shown that the old scenario of conformal symmetry breaking in cosmology, if properly interpreted, not only has a potential ability to describe the origin of dark energy as a symmetry breaking effect, but also may resolve the coincidence problem.Comment: 11 pages, minor revision, published online in EPJ

A graviton propagator for inflation

We construct the scalar and graviton propagator in quasi de Sitter space up to first order in the slow roll parameter $\epsilon\equiv -\dot{H}/H^2$. After a rescaling, the propagators are similar to those in de Sitter space with an $\epsilon$ correction to the effective mass. The limit $\epsilon\to 0$ corresponds to the E(3) vacuum that breaks de Sitter symmetry, but does not break spatial isotropy and homogeneity. The new propagators allow for a self-consistent, dynamical study of quantum back-reaction effects during inflation.Comment: 23 page