English

Fully viable DHOST bounce with extra scalar

High Energy Physics - Theory 2025-04-15 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

In this paper we construct a class of Degenerate Higher-Order Scalar-Tensor (DHOST) theories with an extra scalar field, which admits viable solutions of bouncing universe satisfying the following requirements: (i) absence of Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz (BKL) instability, ghost and gradient instability, (ii) absence of superluminality, (iii) generation of nearly scale-invariant curvature perturbations and very small tensor-to-scalar ratio, and (iv) conventional asymptotics in the distant past and future, where gravity sector is described by General Relativity and the DHOST scalar has a canonical form of Lagrangian. We also expect our models to have sufficiently small non-Gaussianities of primordial curvature perturbations to be compatible with observations. As such, this work exemplifies for the first time the fully viable two-field DHOST bouncing cosmology, which is free of instability and superluminality problems as well as compatible with observations.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2501.09985,
  title  = {Fully viable DHOST bounce with extra scalar},
  author = {Ok Song An and Jin U Kang and Yong Jin Kim and Ui Ri Mun and Un Gyong Ri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2501.09985},
  year   = {2025}
}

Comments

28 pages, two appendices, 12 figures

R2 v1 2026-06-28T21:09:00.268Z