2,324 research outputs found
Generalized gravity and the late-time cosmic acceleration
High-precision observational data have confirmed with startling evidence that
the Universe is currently undergoing a phase of accelerated expansion. This
phase, one of the most important and challenging current problems in cosmology,
represents a new imbalance in the governing gravitational equations.
Historically, physics has addressed such imbalances by either identifying
sources that were previously unaccounted for, or by altering the gravitational
theory. Several candidates, responsible for this expansion, have been proposed
in the literature, in particular, dark energy models and modified gravity
models, amongst others. Outstanding questions are related to the nature of this
so-called "dark energy" that is driving this acceleration, and whether it is
due to the vacuum energy or a dynamical field. On the other hand, the late-time
cosmic acceleration may be due to modifications of General Relativity. In this
work we explore a generalised modified gravity theory, namely
gravity, where is the Ricci scalar, is a scalar field, and is a
kinetic term. This theory contains a wide range of dark energy and modified
gravity models. We considered specific models and applications to the late-time
cosmic acceleration.Comment: 13 pages, 1 figure; slightly revised version, displayed name
corrected. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1412.086
Zero Energy of Plane-Waves for ELKOs
We consider the ELKO field in interaction through contorsion with its own
spin density, and we investigate the form of the consequent autointeractions;
to do so we take into account the high-density limit and find plane wave
solutions: such plane waves give rise to contorsional autointeractions for
which the Ricci metric curvature vanishes and therefore the energy density is
equal to zero identically. Consequences are discussed.Comment: 7 page
Is dark matter an extra-dimensional effect?
We investigate the possibility that the observed behavior of test particles
outside galaxies, which is usually explained by assuming the presence of dark
matter, is the result of the dynamical evolution of particles in higher
dimensional space-times. Hence, dark matter may be a direct consequence of the
presence of an extra force, generated by the presence of extra-dimensions,
which modifies the dynamic law of motion, but does not change the intrinsic
properties of the particles, like, for example, the mass (inertia). We discuss
in some detail several possible particular forms for the extra force, and the
acceleration law of the particles is derived. Therefore, the constancy of the
galactic rotation curves may be considered as an empirical evidence for the
existence of the extra dimensions.Comment: 11 pages, no figures, accepted for publication in MPLA; references
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Dark spinor models in gravitation and cosmology
We introduce and carefully define an entire class of field theories based on
non-standard spinors. Their dominant interaction is via the gravitational field
which makes them naturally dark; we refer to them as Dark Spinors. We provide a
critical analysis of previous proposals for dark spinors noting that they
violate Lorentz invariance. As a working assumption we restrict our analysis to
non-standard spinors which preserve Lorentz invariance, whilst being non-local
and explicitly construct such a theory. We construct the complete
energy-momentum tensor and derive its components explicitly by assuming a
specific projection operator. It is natural to next consider dark spinors in a
cosmological setting. We find various interesting solutions where the spinor
field leads to slow roll and fast roll de Sitter solutions. We also analyse
models where the spinor is coupled conformally to gravity, and consider the
perturbations and stability of the spinor.Comment: 43 pages. Several new sections and details added. JHEP in prin
Palatini formulation of modified gravity with a nonminimal curvature-matter coupling
We derive the field equations and the equations of motion for massive test
particles in modified theories of gravity with an arbitrary coupling between
geometry and matter by using the Palatini formalism. We show that the
independent connection can be expressed as the Levi-Civita connection of an
auxiliary, matter Lagrangian dependent metric, which is related with the
physical metric by means of a conformal transformation. Similarly to the metric
case, the field equations impose the non-conservation of the energy-momentum
tensor. We derive the explicit form of the equations of motion for massive test
particles in the case of a perfect fluid, and the expression of the extra-force
is obtained in terms of the matter-geometry coupling functions and of their
derivatives. Generally, the motion is non-geodesic, and the extra force is
orthogonal to the four-velocity.Comment: 7 pages, no figures; v2, revised and corrected version; new Section
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