16 research outputs found
Theory Challenges of the Accelerating Universe
The accelerating expansion of the universe presents an exciting, fundamental
challenge to the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. I highlight
some of the outstanding challenges in both developing theoretical models and
interpreting without bias the observational results from precision cosmology
experiments in the next decade that will return data to help reveal the nature
of the new physics. Examples given focus on distinguishing a new component of
energy from a new law of gravity, and the effect of early dark energy on baryon
acoustic oscillations.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; minor changes to match J. Phys. A versio
Modified-Source Gravity and Cosmological Structure Formation
One way to account for the acceleration of the universe is to modify general
relativity, rather than introducing dark energy. Typically, such modifications
introduce new degrees of freedom. It is interesting to consider models with no
new degrees of freedom, but with a modified dependence on the conventional
energy-momentum tensor; the Palatini formulation of theories is one
example. Such theories offer an interesting testing ground for investigations
of cosmological modified gravity. In this paper we study the evolution of
structure in these ``modified-source gravity'' theories. In the linear regime,
density perturbations exhibit scale dependent runaway growth at late times and,
in particular, a mode of a given wavenumber goes nonlinear at a higher redshift
than in the standard CDM model. We discuss the implications of this
behavior and why there are reasons to expect that the growth will be cut off in
the nonlinear regime. Assuming that this holds in a full nonlinear analysis, we
briefly describe how upcoming measurements may probe the differences between
the modified theory and the standard CDM model.Comment: 22 pages, 6 figures, uses iopart styl
f(R) actions, cosmic acceleration and local tests of gravity
We study spherically symmetric solutions in f(R) theories and its
compatibility with local tests of gravity. We start by clarifying the range of
validity of the weak field expansion and show that for many models proposed to
address the Dark Energy problem this expansion breaks down in realistic
situations. This invalidates the conclusions of several papers that make
inappropriate use of this expansion. For the stable models that modify gravity
only at small curvatures we find that when the asymptotic background curvature
is large we approximately recover the solutions of Einstein gravity through the
so-called Chameleon mechanism, as a result of the non-linear dynamics of the
extra scalar degree of freedom contained in the metric. In these models one
would observe a transition from Einstein to scalar-tensor gravity as the
Universe expands and the background curvature diminishes. Assuming an adiabatic
evolution we estimate the redshift at which this transition would take place
for a source with given mass and radius. We also show that models of dynamical
Dark Energy claimed to be compatible with tests of gravity because the mass of
the scalar is large in vacuum (e.g. those that also include R^2 corrections in
the action), are not viable.Comment: 26 page
Ellipsoidal universe in the brane world
We study a scenario of the ellipsoidal universe in the brane world cosmology
with a cosmological constant in the bulk . From the five-dimensional Einstein
equations we derive the evolution equations for the eccentricity and the scale
factor of the universe, which are coupled to each other. It is found that if
the anisotropy of our universe is originated from a uniform magnetic field
inside the brane, the eccentricity decays faster in the bulk in comparison with
a four-dimensional ellipsoidal universe. We also investigate the ellipsoidal
universe in the brane-induced gravity and find the evolution equation for the
eccentricity which has a contribution determined by the four- and
five-dimensional Newton's constants. The role of the eccentricity is discussed
in explaining the quadrupole problem of the cosmic microwave background.Comment: 15 pages, 1 figure, Version 3, references added, contents expande
Mass Screening in Modified Gravity
Models of modified gravity introduce extra degrees of freedom, which for
consistency with the data, should be suppressed at observable scales. In the
models that share properties of massive gravity such a suppression is due to
nonlinear interactions: An isolated massive astrophysical object creates a halo
of a nonzero curvature around it, shielding its vicinity from the influence of
the extra degrees of freedom. We emphasize that the very same halo leads to a
screening of the gravitational mass of the object, as seen by an observer
beyond the halo. We discuss the case when the screening could be very
significant and may rule out, or render the models observationally interesting.Comment: 16 pages, 4 figures, A contribution to the Proceedings of the
International Workshop on Cosmology and Gravitation, Peyresq 12, June 16-22,
2007, Peyresq, Franc
Expansion history and f(R) modified gravity
We attempt to fit cosmological data using modified Lagrangians
containing inverse powers of the Ricci scalar varied with respect to the
metric. While we can fit the supernova data well, we confirm the behaviour at medium to high redshifts reported elsewhere and argue
that the easiest way to show that this class of models are inconsistent with
the data is by considering the thickness of the last scattering surface. For
the best fit parameters to the supernova data, the simplest 1/R model gives
rise to a last scattering surface of thickness , inconsistent
with observations.Comment: accepted in JCAP, presentation clarified, results and conclusions
unchange
f(R) theories
Over the past decade, f(R) theories have been extensively studied as one of
the simplest modifications to General Relativity. In this article we review
various applications of f(R) theories to cosmology and gravity - such as
inflation, dark energy, local gravity constraints, cosmological perturbations,
and spherically symmetric solutions in weak and strong gravitational
backgrounds. We present a number of ways to distinguish those theories from
General Relativity observationally and experimentally. We also discuss the
extension to other modified gravity theories such as Brans-Dicke theory and
Gauss-Bonnet gravity, and address models that can satisfy both cosmological and
local gravity constraints.Comment: 156 pages, 14 figures, Invited review article in Living Reviews in
Relativity, Published version, Comments are welcom