Related papers: Kasner solutions, climbing scalars and big-bang si…
Compact stars above a critical stellar mass develop large scalar fields in some scalar-tensor theories. This scenario, called spontaneous scalarization, has been an intense topic of study since it passes weak-field gravity tests naturally…
Due to the accelerated expansion of the universe, the possibility of formation of singularities has changed from the classical Big Bang and Big Crunch singularities to include a number of new scenarios. In recent papers it has been shown…
In quintessence scalar field theories, the presence of scaling solutions are important during the radiation and matter epoch due to having their attractor character. Usually, it is assumed that the initial conditions of the quintessence…
An analogue of the Oppenheimer-Synder collapsing model is treated analytically, where the matter source is a scalar field with an exponential potential. An exact solution is derived followed by matching to a suitable exterior geometry, and…
Quintessential inflation refers to scenarios in which a single scalar field is used to describe inflation and late-time acceleration. This review is dedicated to the framework of quintessential inflation, with a focus on the building blocks…
In $3+1$ dimensions, we study the stability of Kasner solutions for the Einstein-Maxwell-scalar field-Vlasov system. This system incorporates gravity, electromagnetic, weak and strong interactions for the initial stage of our universe. Due…
The global behavior of scalar field cosmological models with very hard potential walls is investigated via the simple example of an exponentially steep potential well. It is found that the solutions exhibit a non-trivial oscillatory…
In string models with "brane supersymmetry breaking" exponential potentials emerge at (closed-string) tree level but are not accompanied by tachyons. Potentials of this type have long been a source of embarrassment in flat space, but can…
[Abridged] A sharp cut-off in the primordial scalar power spectrum on large scales has been known to improve the fit to the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data when compared to the more standard, nearly scale invariant power spectrum…
Results of a general study on the dynamics of cosmological scalar fields with arbitrary potentials are presented. Exact and approximate attractor solutions are found, with applications to quintessence, moduli stabilization and inflation.
A scalar field rolling down a potential with a large initial velocity results in inflation of a finite duration. Such a scenario suppresses the scalar power on large scales improving the fit to the cosmological data. We find that the…
Evolution of large-scale scalar perturbations in the presence of stiff solid (solid with pressure to energy density ratio > 1/3) is studied. If the solid dominated the dynamics of the universe long enough, the perturbations could end up…
It has recently been realized that many theories of physics beyond the Standard Model give rise to cosmological histories exhibiting extended epochs of cosmological stasis. During such epochs, the abundances of different energy components…
The cosmological consequences of a slow rolling scalar field with constant kinetic term in analogy to the vertical movement of a skydiver after reaching terminal velocity are investigated. It is shown that the terminal scalar field…
We explore the inflationary phase of a scalar field with a kinetic term non-minimally coupled to gravity. We find that one of the slow-roll conditions is naturally consequence of the equation of motion of the scalar field. Thus, slow-roll…
Various extensions of standard inflationary models have been proposed recently by adding vector fields. Because they are generally motivated by large-scale anomalies, and the possibility of statistical anisotropy of primordial fluctuations,…
We consider dynamics of a scalar field in compactification scenario of Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet cosmology. It is shown that if the field is non-minimally coupled to curvature, its asymptotic value under certain conditions may be shifted from…
Scalarization is a mechanism that endows strongly self-gravitating bodies, such as neutron stars and black holes, with a scalar-field configuration. It resembles a phase transition in that the scalar configuration appears only when a…
Conformal embedding of closed-universe models in a de Sitter background suggests a quantisation condition on the available conformal time. This condition implies that the universe is closed at no greater than the 10% level. When a massive…
We study the stabilization of scalars near a supersymmetric black hole horizon using the equation of motion of a particle moving in a potential and background metric. When the relevant 4-dimensional theory is described by special geometry,…