Can the Universe escape eternal acceleration?

Recent astronomical observations of distant supernovae light-curves suggest that the expansion of the universe has recently begun to accelerate. Acceleration is created by an anti-gravitational repulsive stress, like that produced by a positive cosmological constant, or universal vacuum energy. It creates a rather bleak eschatological picture. An ever-expanding universe's future appears to be increasingly dominated by its constant vacuum energy. A universe doomed to accelerate forever will produce a state of growing uniformity and cosmic loneliness. Structures participating in the cosmological expansion will ultimately leave each others' horizons and information-processing must eventually die out. Here, we examine whether this picture is the only interpretation of the observations. We find that in many well-motivated scenarios the observed spell of vacuum domination is only a transient phenomenon. Soon after acceleration starts, the vacuum energy's anti-gravitational properties are reversed, and a matter-dominated decelerating cosmic expansion resumes. Thus, contrary to general expectations, once an accelerating universe does not mean always an accelerating universe.Comment: 6 pages, 2 figure

Opportunities for future supernova studies of cosmic acceleration

We investigate the potential of a future supernova dataset, as might be obtained by the proposed SNAP satellite, to discriminate among different ``dark energy'' theories that describe an accelerating Universe. We find that many such models can be distinguished with a fit to the effective pressure-to-density ratio, $w$, of this energy. More models can be distinguished when the effective slope, $dw/dz$, of a changing $w$ is also fit, but only if our knowledge of the current mass density, $\Omega_m$, is improved. We investigate the use of ``fitting functions'' to interpret luminosity distance data from supernova searches, and argue in favor of a particular preferred method, which we use in our analysis.Comment: Four pages including figures. Final published version. No significant changes from v

Dynamics of Massive Scalar Fields in dS Space and the dS/CFT Correspondence

Global geometric properties of dS space are presented explicitly in various coordinates. A Robertson-Walker like metric is deduced, which is convenient to be used in study of dynamics in dS space. Singularities of wavefunctions of massive scalar fields at boundary are demonstrated. A bulk-boundary propagator is constructed by making use of the solutions of equations of motion. The dS/CFT correspondence and the Strominger's mass bound is shown.Comment: latex, 14 pages and 3 figure

Cosmology with two compactification scales

We consider a (4+d)-dimensional spacetime broken up into a (4-n)-dimensional Minkowski spacetime (where n goes from 1 to 3) and a compact (n+d)-dimensional manifold. At the present time the n compactification radii are of the order of the Universe size, while the other d compactification radii are of the order of the Planck length.Comment: 16 pages, Latex2e, 7 figure

Zeldovich flow on cosmic vacuum background: new exact nonlinear analytical solution

A new exact nonlinear Newtonian solution for a plane matter flow superimposed on the isotropic Hubble expansion is reported. The dynamical effect of cosmic vacuum is taken into account. The solution describes the evolution of nonlinear perturbations via gravitational instability of matter and the termination of the perturbation growth by anti-gravity of vacuum at the epoch of transition from matter domination to vacuum domination. On this basis, an `approximate' 3D solution is suggested as an analog of the Zeldovich ansatz.Comment: 9 pages, 1 figure

Community Development as a Public Sector Agenda

This paper documents how one Department of Recreation in a large city underwent a planned change effort which transformed some 200 site managers into active community organizers. Based on the philosophy of a very dynamic new commissioner (a former community organizer), city employees enhanced local civic participation and forged a partnership between the public and private sectors as well as with local residents. The paper presents the guiding philosophy, implementation steps, an assessment of the impact of the change, and a discussion of the potential of such a process which can be adopted nationwide