A Scalar Measure Of The Local Expansion Rate

We define a scalar measure of the local expansion rate based on how astronomers determine the Hubble constant. Our observable is the inverse conformal d'Alembertian acting on a unit ``standard candle.'' Because this quantity is an integral over the past lightcone of the observation point it provides a manifestly causal and covariant technique for averaging over small fluctuations. For an exactly homogeneous and isotropic spacetime our scalar gives minus one half times the inverse square of the Hubble parameter. Our proposal is that it be assigned this meaning generally and that it be employed to decide the issue of whether or not there is a significant quantum gravitational back-reaction on inflation. Several techniques are discussed for promoting the scalar to a full invariant by giving a geometrical description for the point of observation. We work out an explicit formalism for evaluating the invariant in perturbation theory. The results for two simple models are presented in subsequent papers.Comment: 25 pages, LaTeX 2 epsilon, 1 figur

Spherical Collapse in Chameleon Models

We study the gravitational collapse of an overdensity of nonrelativistic matter under the action of gravity and a chameleon scalar field. We show that the spherical collapse model is modified by the presence of a chameleon field. In particular, we find that even though the chameleon effects can be potentially large at small scales, for a large enough initial size of the inhomogeneity the collapsing region possesses a thin shell that shields the modification of gravity induced by the chameleon field, recovering the standard gravity results. We analyse the behaviour of a collapsing shell in a cosmological setting in the presence of a thin shell and find that, in contrast to the usual case, the critical density for collapse depends on the initial comoving size of the inhomogeneity.Comment: matches printed versio

Back Reaction And Local Cosmological Expansion Rate

We calculate the back reaction of cosmological perturbations on a general relativistic variable which measures the local expansion rate of the Universe. Specifically, we consider a cosmological model in which matter is described by a single field. We analyze back reaction both in a matter dominated Universe and in a phase of scalar field-driven chaotic inflation. In both cases, we find that the leading infrared terms contributing to the back reaction vanish when the local expansion rate is measured at a fixed value of the matter field which is used as a clock, whereas they do not appear to vanish if the expansion rate is evaluated at a fixed value of the background time. We discuss possible implications for more realistic models with a more complicated matter sector.Comment: 7 pages, No figure

Energy-Momentum Tensor of Cosmological Fluctuations during Inflation

We study the renormalized energy-momentum tensor (EMT) of cosmological scalar fluctuations during the slow-rollover regime for chaotic inflation with a quadratic potential and find that it is characterized by a negative energy density which grows during slow-rollover. We also approach the back-reaction problem as a second-order calculation in perturbation theory finding no evidence that the back-reaction of cosmological fluctuations is a gauge artifact. In agreement with the results on the EMT, the average expansion rate is decreased by the back-reaction of cosmological fluctuations.Comment: 19 pages, no figures.An appendix and references added, conclusions unchanged, version accepted for publication in PR

The imprint of the interaction between dark sectors in galaxy clusters

Based on perturbation theory, we study the dynamics of how dark matter and dark energy in the collapsing system approach dynamical equilibrium while interacting. We find that the interaction between dark sectors cannot ensure the dark energy to fully cluster along with dark, leading to the energy non-conservation problem in the collapsing system We examine the cluster number counts dependence on the interaction between dark sectors. Furthermore, we analyze how dark energy inhomogeneities affect cluster abundances. It is shown that cluster number counts can provide specific signature of dark sectors interaction and dark energy inhomogeneities.Comment: revised version. New treatment has been provided on studying the structure formation in the spherical collapsing system where DE does not cluster together with DM. Accepted for publication in JCA

The imprint of the interaction between dark sectors in galaxy clusters

Based on perturbation theory, we study the dynamics of how dark matter and dark energy in the collapsing system approach dynamical equilibrium while interacting. We find that the interaction between dark sectors cannot ensure the dark energy to fully cluster along with dark, leading to the energy non-conservation problem in the collapsing system We examine the cluster number counts dependence on the interaction between dark sectors. Furthermore, we analyze how dark energy inhomogeneities affect cluster abundances. It is shown that cluster number counts can provide specific signature of dark sectors interaction and dark energy inhomogeneities.Comment: revised version. New treatment has been provided on studying the structure formation in the spherical collapsing system where DE does not cluster together with DM. Accepted for publication in JCA

Singularities in scalar-tensor gravity

The analysis of certain singularities in scalar-tensor gravity contained in a recent paper is completed, and situations are pointed out in which these singularities cannot occur.Comment: 6 pages, LaTe

How Sensitive is the CMB to a Single Lens?

We study the imprints of a single lens, that breaks statistical isotropy, on the CMB and calculate the signal to noise ratio (S/N) for its detection. We emphasize the role of non-Gaussianities induced by LCDM weak lensing in this calculation and show that typically the S/N is much smaller than expected. In particular we find that the hypothesis that a void (texture) is responsible for the WMAP cold spot can barely (cannot) be tested via weak lensing of the CMB.Comment: Accepted for publication in JCAP, 24 pages, 5 figure

Clustering of quintessence on horizon scales and its imprint on HI intensity mapping

Quintessence can cluster only on horizon scales. What is the effect on the observed matter distribution? To answer this, we need a relativistic approach that goes beyond the standard Newtonian calculation and deals properly with large scales. Such an approach has recently been developed for the case when dark energy is vacuum energy, which does not cluster at all. We extend this relativistic analysis to deal with dynamical dark energy. Using three quintessence potentials as examples, we compute the angular power spectrum for the case of an HI intensity map survey. Compared to the concordance model with the same small-scale power at z = 0, quintessence boosts the angular power by up to 15% at high redshifts, while power in the two models converges at low redshifts. The difference is mainly due to the background evolution, driven mostly by the normalization of the power spectrum today. The dark energy perturbations make only a small contribution on the largest scales, and a negligible contribution on smaller scales. Ironically, the dark energy perturbations remove the false boost of large-scale power that arises if we impose the (unphysical) assumption that the dark energy is smooth.Web of Scienc

Constraining dark energy fluctuations with supernova correlations

We investigate constraints on dark energy fluctuations using type Ia supernovae. If dark energy is not in the form of a cosmological constant, that is if the equation of state is not equal to -1, we expect not only temporal, but also spatial variations in the energy density. Such fluctuations would cause local variations in the universal expansion rate and directional dependences in the redshift-distance relation. We present a scheme for relating a power spectrum of dark energy fluctuations to an angular covariance function of standard candle magnitude fluctuations. The predictions for a phenomenological model of dark energy fluctuations are compared to observational data in the form of the measured angular covariance of Hubble diagram magnitude residuals for type Ia supernovae in the Union2 compilation. The observational result is consistent with zero dark energy fluctuations. However, due to the limitations in statistics, current data still allow for quite general dark energy fluctuations as long as they are in the linear regime.Comment: 18 pages, 6 figures, matches the published versio