Cosmological constant influence on cosmic string spacetime

We investigate the line element of spacetime around a linear cosmic string in the presence of a cosmological constant. We obtain the metric and argue that it should be discarded because of asymptotic considerations. Then a time dependent and consistent form of the metric is obtained and its properties are discussed.Comment: 3 page

Discovery of a Supernova Explosion at Half the Age of the Universe and its Cosmological Implications

The ultimate fate of the universe, infinite expansion or a big crunch, can be determined by measuring the redshifts, apparent brightnesses, and intrinsic luminosities of very distant supernovae. Recent developments have provided tools that make such a program practicable: (1) Studies of relatively nearby Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) have shown that their intrinsic luminosities can be accurately determined; (2) New research techniques have made it possible to schedule the discovery and follow-up observations of distant supernovae, producing well over 50 very distant (z = 0.3 -- 0.7) SNe Ia to date. These distant supernovae provide a record of changes in the expansion rate over the past several billion years. By making precise measurements of supernovae at still greater distances, and thus extending this expansion history back far enough in time, we can distinguish the slowing caused by the gravitational attraction of the universe's mass density Omega_M from the effect of a possibly inflationary pressure caused by a cosmological constant Lambda. We report here the first such measurements, with our discovery of a Type Ia supernova (SN 1997ap) at z = 0.83. Measurements at the Keck II 10-m telescope make this the most distant spectroscopically confirmed supernova. Over two months of photometry of SN 1997ap with the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based telescopes, when combined with previous measurements of nearer SNe Ia, suggests that we may live in a low mass-density universe. Further supernovae at comparable distances are currently scheduled for ground and space-based observations.Comment: 12 pages and 4 figures (figure 4 is repeated in color and black and white) Nature, scheduled for publication in the 1 January, 1998 issue. Also available at http://www-supernova.lbl.go

F(T) Models within Bianchi Type I Universe

In this paper, we consider spatially homogenous and anisotropic Bianchi type I universe in the context of F(T) gravity. We construct some corresponding models using conservation equation and equation of state parameter representing different phases of the universe. In particular, we take matter dominated era, radiation dominated era, present dark energy phase and their combinations. It is found that one of the models has a constant solution which may correspond to the cosmological constant. We also derive equation of state parameter by using two well-known F(T) models and discuss cosmic acceleration.Comment: 19 pages, accepted for publication in Mod. Phys. Lett.

Probability for Primordial Black Holes Pair in 1/R Gravity

The probability for quantum creation of an inflationary universe with a pair of black holes in 1/R - gravitational theory has been studied. Considering a gravitational action which includes a cosmological constant ($\Lambda$) in addition to $\delta R^{- 1}$ term, the probability has been evaluated in a semiclassical approximation with Hartle-Hawking boundary condition. We obtain instanton solutions determined by the parameters $\delta$ and $\Lambda$ satisfying the constraint $\delta \leq \frac{4 \Lambda^{2}}{3}$. However, we note that two different classes of instanton solutions exists in the region $0 < \delta < \frac{4 \Lambda^{2}}{3}$. The probabilities of creation of such configurations are evaluated. It is found that the probability of creation of a universe with a pair of black holes is strongly suppressed with a positive cosmological constant except in one case when $0 < \delta < \Lambda^{2}$. It is also found that gravitational instanton solution is permitted even with $\Lambda = 0$ but one has to consider $\delta < 0$. However, in the later case a universe with a pair of black holes is less probable.Comment: 15 pages, no figure. submitted to Phys. Rev.

De Sitter Waves and the Zero Curvature Limit

We show that a particular set of global modes for the massive de Sitter scalar field (the de Sitter waves) allows to manage the group representations and the Fourier transform in the flat (Minkowskian) limit. This is in opposition to the usual acceptance based on a previous result, suggesting the appearance of negative energy in the limit process. This method also confirms that the Euclidean vacuum, in de Sitter spacetime, has to be preferred as far as one wishes to recover ordinary QFT in the flat limit.Comment: 9 pages, latex no figure, to appear in Phys. Rev.

On Some Exponential Potentials for a Cosmological Scalar Field as Quintessence

We present general exact solutions for two classes of exponential potentials in scalar field models for quintessence. The coupling is minimal and we consider only dust and scalar field. To some extent, it is possible to reproduce experimental results from supernovae.Comment: revised version. To appear Gen. Rel. Gra

Support of dS/CFT correspondence from space-time perturbations

We analyse the spectrum of perturbations of the de Sitter space on the one hand, while on the other hand we compute the location of the poles in the Conformal Field Theory (CFT) propagator at the border. The coincidence is striking, supporting a dS/CFT correspondence. We show that the spectrum of thermal excitations of the CFT at the past boundary $I^{-}$ together with that spectrum at the future boundary $I^{+}$ is contained in the quasi-normal mode spectrum of the de Sitter space in the bulk.Comment: Modified version, appearing in Phys. Rev. D66 (2002) 10401

A New Cosmological Model of Quintessence and Dark Matter

We propose a new class of quintessence models in which late times oscillations of a scalar field give rise to an effective equation of state which can be negative and hence drive the observed acceleration of the universe. Our ansatz provides a unified picture of quintessence and a new form of dark matter we call "Frustrated Cold Dark Matter" (FCDM). FCDM inhibits gravitational clustering on small scales and could provide a natural resolution to the core density problem for disc galaxy halos. Since the quintessence field rolls towards a small value, constraints on slow-roll quintessence models are safely circumvented in our model.Comment: Revised. Important new results added in response to referees comment

Archeops: an instrument for present and future cosmology

Archeops is a balloon-borne instrument dedicated to measure the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies. It has, in the millimetre domain (from 143 to 545 GHz), a high angular resolution (about 10 arcminutes) in order to constrain high l multipoles, as well as a large sky coverage fraction (30%) in order to minimize the cosmic variance. It has linked, before WMAP, Cobe large angular scales to the first acoustic peak region. From its results, inflation motivated cosmologies are reinforced with a flat Universe (Omega_tot=1 within 3%). The dark energy density and the baryonic density are in very good agreement with other independent estimations based on supernovae measurements and big bang nucleosynthesis. Important results on galactic dust emission polarization and their implications for Planck are also addressed.Comment: 4 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Proceedings of the Multiwavelength Cosmology Conference, June 2003, Mykonos Island, Greec

Field theory models for variable cosmological constant

Anthropic solutions to the cosmological constant problem require seemingly unnatural scalar field potentials with a very small slope or domain walls (branes) with a very small coupling to a four-form field. Here we introduce a class of models in which the smallness of the corresponding parameters can be attributed to a spontaneously broken discrete symmetry. We also demonstrate the equivalence of scalar field and four-form models. Finally, we show how our models can be naturally embedded into a left-right extension of the standard model.Comment: A reference adde