Screening of cosmological constant for De Sitter Universe in non-local gravity, phantom-divide crossing and finite-time future singularities

We investigate de Sitter solutions in non-local gravity as well as in non-local gravity with Lagrange constraint multiplier. We examine a condition to avoid a ghost and discuss a screening scenario for a cosmological constant in de Sitter solutions. Furthermore, we explicitly demonstrate that three types of the finite-time future singularities can occur in non-local gravity and explore their properties. In addition, we evaluate the effective equation of state for the universe and show that the late-time accelerating universe may be effectively the quintessence, cosmological constant or phantom-like phases. In particular, it is found that there is a case in which a crossing of the phantom divide from the non-phantom (quintessence) phase to the phantom one can be realized when a finite-time future singularity occurs. Moreover, it is demonstrated that the addition of an $R^2$ term can cure the finite-time future singularities in non-local gravity. It is also suggested that in the framework of non-local gravity, adding an $R^2$ term leads to possible unification of the early-time inflation with the late-time cosmic acceleration.Comment: 42 pages, no figure, version accepted for publication in General Relativity and Gravitatio

Between the image and anthropology: theatrical lessons from Aby Warburg's "Nympha"

In this article, I reconsider Richard Schechner’s “Restoration of Behavior” by rewinding the clock to a time that predates the film technology that animates this paradigm. In doing so, I consider the still image whose movements animate an analogical performance paradigm that the late art historian, Aby Warburg, began to theorize in the 1890s: a paradigm he called the “Pathos Formula,” and conceptualized around the figure of woman in movement who he referred to as “Nympha.” In considering Warburg’s theories as an antecedent to the Restoration of Behavior, I explore the ways that the invocation of film strips (“strips of behavior”) as culturally neutral inflected performance studies from the outset with a gendering that has been reified, reflected and contested ever since