Related papers: Subluminal Galilean Genesis
We propose a novel cosmological scenario, in which standard inflation is replaced by an expanding phase with a drastic violation of the Null Energy Condition (NEC): \dot H >> H^2. The model is based on the recently introduced Galileon…
We show that the DBI conformal galileons, derived from the world-volume theory of a 3-brane moving in an AdS bulk, admit a background, stable under quantum corrections, which violates the Null Energy Condition (NEC). The perturbations…
We propose a novel branch of the Galilean Genesis scenario as an alternative to inflation, in which the universe starts expanding from Minkowski in the asymptotic past with a gross violation of the null energy condition (NEC). This variant,…
We present nonsingular, homogeneous and isotropic bouncing solutions of the conformal Galileon model. We show that such solutions necessarily begin with a radiation-dominated contracting phase. This is followed by a quintom scenario in…
We consider small perturbations about homogeneous backgrounds in dilatationally-invariant Galileon models. The issues we address are stability (absence of ghosts and gradient instabilities) and superluminality. We show that in Minkowski…
A scalar-tensor theory of gravity can be made not only to account for the current cosmic acceleration, but also to satisfy solar-system and laboratory constraints, by introducing a non-linear derivative interaction for the scalar field.…
We study the spectrum of cosmological fluctuations in scenarios such as Galilean Genesis in which a spectator scalar field acquires a scale-invariant spectrum of perturbations during an early phase which asymptotes in the far past to…
We study a recently proposed scenario for the early universe: Subluminal Galilean Genesis. We prove that without any other matter present in the spatially flat Friedmann universe, the perturbations of the Galileon scalar field propagate…
We study the cosmology of Galileon modified gravity models in the linear perturbation regime. We derive the fully covariant and gauge invariant perturbed field equations using two different methods, which give consistent results, and solve…
We study how the coupling with gravity of theories with non-linearly realized space-time symmetries is modified when one changes the parametrization of the coset. As an example, we focus on the so-called Galileon duality: a…
Galileon theories are of considerable interest since they allow for stable violations of the null energy condition. Since such violations could have occurred during a high-energy regime in the history of our universe, we are motivated to…
Galilean Genesis is generically plagued with a strong coupling problem, but this can be avoided depending on the hierarchy between a classical energy scale of genesis and a strong coupling scale. In this paper, we investigate whether or not…
We study spatially flat bouncing cosmologies and models with the early-time Genesis epoch in a popular class of generalized Galileon theories. We ask whether there exist solutions of these types which are free of gradient and ghost…
We revisit the cosmology of Covariant Galileon gravity in view of the most recent cosmological data sets, including weak lensing. As a higher derivative theory, Covariant Galileon models do not have a $\Lambda$CDM limit and predict a very…
Could a conformal Galileon be describing a gauge mode of a broader diffeomorphism invariant theory? We answer this question affirmatively in 3D by using a coset construction for a nonlinearly realized conformal symmetry. In particular, we…
The mystery of dark energy suggests that there is new gravitational physics on long length scales. Yet light degrees of freedom in gravity are strictly limited by Solar System observations. We can resolve this apparent contradiction by…
We recently showed how it is possible to use a cubic Galileon action to construct classical cosmological solutions that enter a contracting null energy condition (NEC) violating phase, bounce at finite values of the scale factor and exit…
In the present thesis, using an effective field theory point of view, we explore theories of single-field inflation where higher derivative operators become relevant, affecting in a novel way the dynamics and therefore the observations. For…
We consider the recently introduced "galileon" field in a dynamical spacetime. When the galileon is assumed to be minimally coupled to the metric, we underline that both field equations of the galileon and the metric involve up to…
The Galileon theory belongs to the class of modified gravity models that can explain the late-time accelerated expansion of the Universe. In previous works, cosmological constraints on the Galileon model were derived, both in the uncoupled…