Related papers: Variable gravity Universe
We argue that discreteness at the Planck scale (naturally expected to arise from quantum gravity) might manifest in the form of minute violations of energy-momentum conservation of the matter degrees of freedom when described in terms of…
An expanding universe is not expected to have a static vacuum energy density. The so-called cosmological constant $\Lambda$ should be an approximation, certainly a good one for a fraction of a Hubble time, but it is most likely a temporary…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration has stimulated theorists to consider dark energy or modifications to Einstein's General Relativity as possible explanations. The last decade has seen advances in theories that go beyond smooth dark…
Energy Momentum Squared Gravity (EMSG) is a cosmological model where the scale factor is non vanishing at all times and hence does not favor big bang cosmology. However, the profile of density in the radiation dominated universe shows that…
We study the cosmology of a toy modified theory of gravity in which gravity shuts off at short distances, as in the fat graviton scenario of Sundrum. In the weak-field limit, the theory is perturbatively local, ghost-free and unitary,…
We consider cosmological inflation generated by a scalar field slowly rolling off from a de Sitter maximum of its potential. The models belong to the class of hilltop models and represent the most general model of this kind in which the…
We consider multidimensional gravity with a Lagrangian containing the Ricci tensor squared and the Kretschmann invariant. In a Kaluza-Klein approach with a single compact extra space of arbitrary dimension, with the aid of a slow-change…
The subject of this paper is to investigate the weak regime covariant scalar-tensor-vector gravity (STVG) theory, known as the MOdified gravity (MOG) theory of gravity. First, we show that the MOG in the absence of scalar fields is…
We study the variation of the gravitational Newton's constant on cosmological scales in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. We focus on the simplest models of scalar-tensor theories with a coupling to the Ricci scalar of the form $F(\sigma)…
We outline a dynamical dark energy scenario whose signatures may be simultaneously tested by astronomical observations and laboratory experiments. The dark energy is a field with slightly sub-gravitational couplings to matter, a logarithmic…
A `bouncing' cosmological model is proposed in the context of a Weyl-invariant scalar-tensor (WIST) theory of gravity. In addition to being Weyl-invariant the theory is U(1)-symmetric and has a conserved global charge. The entire cosmic…
We advance the viewpoint that only relevant modes of the vacuum fluctuations, namely, with wavelengths conditioned by the size, homogeneity, geometry and topology of the Universe, do contribute into the cosmological constant. A formula is…
Affine gravity, a gravity theory based on affine connection with no notion of metric, supports scalar field dynamics only if scalar fields have non-vanishing potential. The non-vanishing vacuum energy ensures that the cosmological constant…
The dark bubble model makes a positive cosmological constant natural in string theory, and predicts several new physical phenomena within reach in the near future. In this paper we study the experimental consequences of the model for the…
We explore the possibility of describing our universe with a singularity--free, closed, spatially homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model, using only general relativity and a suitable equation of state which produces an inflationary…
Exact solutions for a model with variable $G$, $\Lambda$ and bulk viscosity are obtained. Inflationary solutions with constant (de Sitter-type) and variable energy density are found. An expanding anisotropic universe is found to isotropize…
Graviton fluctuations induce strong non-perturbative infrared renormalization effects for the cosmological constant. The functional renormalization flow drives a positive cosmological constant towards zero, solving the cosmological constant…
A modified gravitational theory explains early universe and late time cosmology, galaxy and galaxy cluster dynamics. The modified gravity (MOG) theory extends general relativity (GR) by three extra degrees of freedom: a scalar field $G$,…
We use the phase plane analysis technique of Madsen and Ellis to consider a universe with a true cosmological constant as well as a cosmological "constant" that is decaying. Time symmetric dynamics for the inflationary era allows eternally…
We study a scale-invariant model of quadratic gravity with a non-minimally coupled scalar field. We focus on cosmological solutions and find that scale invariance is spontaneously broken and a mass scale naturally emerges. Before the…