Related papers: When Matter Matters
A number of general issues relating to superluminal photon propagation in gravitational fields are explored. The possibility of superluminal, yet causal, photon propagation arises because of Equivalence Principle violating interactions…
We present a general form for the solution of an expanding general-relativistic Friedmann universe that encounters a singularity at finite future time. The singularity occurs in the material pressure and acceleration whilst the scale…
The evidence for the accelerated expansion of the universe and the time-dependence of the fine-structure constant suggests the existence of at least one scalar field with a mass of order H_0. If such a field exists, then it is generally…
We tackle the problem of the accelerating universe by reconsidering the most general form of the metric when the speed of light is allowed to evolve with time in a homogeneous and isotropic universe. A new varying speed of light (VSL) model…
We investigate shock-wave solutions of the Einstein equations in the case when the speed of propagation is equal to the speed of light. The work extends the shock matching theory of Smoller and Temple, which characterizes solutions of the…
Many candidate fundamental theories contain scalar fields that can acquire spacetime-varying expectation values in a cosmological context. Such scalars typically obey Lorentz-violating effective dispersion relations. We illustrate this fact…
We study a recently proposed new cosmological phase where a scalar field moves periodically in an expanding spatially-flat Friedmann universe. This phase corresponds to a limiting cycle of the equations of motion and can be considered as a…
The fact that fast oscillating homogeneous scalar fields behave as perfect fluids in average and their intrinsic isotropy have made these models very fruitful in cosmology. In this work we will analyse the perturbations dynamics in these…
In this work, we study a new quintessence model associated with non-Abelian gauge fields, minimally coupled to Einstein gravity. This gauge theory has been recently introduced and studied as an inflationary model, called gauge-flation.…
It is often the case that scalar fields are produced in the early Universe in the form of coherent oscillation. These scalar fields may have huge abundances and affect the evolution of the Universe. In particular, if the lifetime is long…
In this paper we examine the cosmological consequences of fourth order Galileon gravity. We carry out detailed investigations of the underlying dynamics and demonstrate the stability of one de Sitter phase. The stable de Sitter phase…
The generalised Proca (GP) theory is a modified gravity model in which the acceleration of the cosmic expansion rate can be explained by self interactions of a cosmological vector field. In this paper we study a particular sub-class of the…
In the standard inflationary scenario based on a minimally coupled scalar field, canonical or non-canonical, the subluminal propagation of speed of scalar perturbations ensures the following consistency relation: $r \leq - 8n_{_T}$, where…
In this paper we consider second order perturbations of a flat Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre universe whose stress-energy content is a single minimally coupled scalar field with an arbitrary potential. We derive the general solution of the…
Galileon models are among the most appealing candidates for Dark Energy. The reason is twofold: classically, they provide a tracking solution leading to an almost DeSitter space starting from very generic initial conditions in the deep…
The Lagrangian equations of motion for massive spinning test particles (tops) moving on a gravitational background using General Relativity are presented. The paths followed by tops are nongeodesic. An exact solution for the motion of tops…
We consider the effect of radiative corrections on the maximum velocity of propagation of neutral scalar fields in a uniform electromagnetic field. The propagator of neutral scalar fields interacting with charged fields depends on the…
We analyse the cosmological evolution of a generalised axion-like field that drives the late-time acceleration of the Universe. This model can exhibit tracking behaviour, which alleviates the coincidence problem. The cosmological…
We propose to "gauge" the group of similarity transformations that acts on a space of non-Hermitian scalar theories. We introduce the "similarity gauge field", which acts as a gauge connection on the space of non-Hermitian theories…
We review the different frameworks in which Galileon scalar fields have been seen to emerge such an in DGP, New Massive Gravity and Ghost-free massive Gravity and emphasize their relation with the Lovelock invariant in braneworld models.…