Related papers: Averaging inhomogeneities in scalar-tensor cosmolo…
This talk is based on my work in collaboration with B. Boisseau, D. Polarski, and A.A. Starobinsky. The most natural and best-motivated alternatives to general relativity are the so-called "scalar-tensor" theories, in which the…
Cosmic backreaction refers to the general question of whether a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model is able to predict the correct expansion dynamics of our inhomogeneous Universe. One aspect of this issue concerns the validity of…
A novel, interesting class of scalar-tensor gravity theories is those with a limit on the field motion, where the scalar field either goes to a constant acceleration or stops accelerating and goes to a constant velocity. We combine these…
A finite, scheme-independent Casimir contribution to the stress-energy tensor arises naturally for quantum fields in universes with non-trivial spatial topology. We compute this Casimir stress-energy tensor contribution for a conformally…
Scalar-tensor theories have drawn the attention of cosmologist for the past few years because they can provide mechanism to explain the observable phenomena. Moreover, the results of scalar-tensor theories can be applied in higher-order…
Most cosmological models studied today are based on the assumption of homogeneity and isotropy. Observationally one can find evidence that supports these assumptions on very large scales, the strongest being the almost isotropy of the…
Regionally averaged relativistic cosmologies have recently been considered as a possible explanation for the apparent late time acceleration of the Universe. This contribution reports on a mean field description of the backreaction in terms…
Brans-Dicke cosmology with an (inverse) power-law potential is revisited in the light of modern quintessence and inflation models. A simple ansatz relating scale factor and scalar field recovers most of the known solutions and generates new…
It is generally assumed that on sufficiently large scales the Universe is well-described as a homogeneous, isotropic FRW cosmology with a dark energy. Does the formation of nonlinear cosmic inhomogeneities produce a significant effect on…
Motivated by the growing interest in the nonmetricity-matter couplings, we develop the scalar-tensor formulation of recently introduced $f(Q,T)$ gravity, where $Q$ is the nonmetricity and $T$ is the trace of the energy-momentum tensor. The…
We study $f(R)$ gravity models in the language of scalar-tensor theories. The correspondence between $f(R)$ gravity and scalar-tensor theories is revisited since $f(R)$ gravity is a subclass of Brans-Dicke models, with a vanishing coupling…
Teleparallel description of gravity theories where the gravity is mediated through the tetrad field and consequent torsion provide an alternative route to explain the late time cosmic speed up issue. Generalization of the teleparallel…
The gravitational field equations on cosmological scales are obtained by averaging the Einstein field equations of general relativity. By assuming spatial homogeneity and isotropy on the largest scales, the local inhomogeneities affect the…
The variational field equations of Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor theory of gravitation are given in a non-Riemannian setting in the language of exterior differential forms over 4-dimensional spacetimes. A conformally re-scaled Robinson-Trautman…
We consider cosmological models in scalar tensor theories of gravity that describe an accelerating universe, and we study a family of inverse power law potentials, for which exact solutions of the Einstein equations are known. We also…
The backreaction of nonlinear inhomogeneities to the cosmic expansion is analyzed in the framework of general relativity with a cosmological constant. By defining the spatially averaged matter energy density, we find that the cosmological…
To explain the cosmic speed up, brought to light by the recent SNIa and CMB observations, we propose the following: a) In a spacetime endowed with a FRW metric, we choose an empirical scale factor that best explains the observations. b) We…
We show that cosmological sudden singularities that respect the energy conditions can occur at finite times in Brans-Dicke and more general scalar-tensor theories of gravity. We construct these explicitly in the Friedmann universes.…
It is shown that spatially flat, isotropic cosmologies derived from the Brans--Dicke gravity action exhibit a scale factor duality invariance. This classical duality is then associated with a hidden $N=2$ supersymmetry at the quantum level…
In this review, we investigate the question of backreaction in different approaches to cosmological perturbation theory, and with a special focus on quantum theoretical aspects. By backreaction, we refer here to the effects of matter field…