Related papers: Nonminimal coupling and the cosmological constant …
The non-minimal coupling of a scalar field to the Ricci curvature in a curved spacetime is unavoidable according to several authors. The coupling constant is not a free parameter: the prescriptions for the value of the coupling constant in…
In this paper, motivated from the fact that a de Sitter cosmological boundary corresponds to a positive cosmological constant, we consider time variable cosmological constants, dubbed {\it horizon cosmological constants}. The horizon…
We study the effects of coupling a cosmologically rolling scalar field to higher order curvature terms. We show that when the strong coupling scale of the theory is on the 10^{-3}-10^{-1}eV range, the model passes all experimental bounds on…
We consider the standard model with local scale invariance. The theory shows exact scale invariance of dimensionally regulated action. We show that massless gauge fields, which may be abelian or non-abelian, lead to vanishing contribution…
The recent observational evidence of deviations from the $\Lambda$-Cold Dark Matter ($\Lambda$CDM) model points towards the presence of evolving dark energy. The simplest possibility consists of a cosmological scalar field $\varphi$, dubbed…
In contrast to the phenomenon of nullification of the cosmological constant in the equilibrium vacuum, which is the general property of any quantum vacuum, there are many options in modifying the Einstein equation to allow the cosmological…
Dark energy is frequently modelled as an additional dynamical scalar field component in the Universe, referred to as "quintessence", which drives the late-time acceleration. Furthermore, the quintessence field may be coupled to dark matter…
A cosmological scenario is proposed, which simultaneously solves the mass hierarchy and the small dark energy problem. In the present scenario an effective gravity mass scale (inverse of the Newton's constant) increases during the…
An extremely light ($m_{\phi} \ll 10^{-33} {\rm eV}$), slowly-varying scalar field $\phi $ (quintessence) with a potential energy density as large as 60% of the critical density has been proposed as the origin of the accelerated expansion…
We propose a technically natural scenario whereby an initially large cosmological constant (c.c.) is relaxed down to the observed value due to the dynamics of a scalar evolving on a very shallow potential. The model crucially relies on a…
There is mounting observational evidence that the expansion of our Universe is undergoing a late-time acceleration. Among many proposals to describe this phenomenon, the cosmological constant seems to be the simplest and the most natural…
We investigate cosmological evolution in models where the effective potential V(\phi) may become negative for some values of the field \phi. Phase portraits of such theories in space of variables (\phi,\dot\phi,H) have several qualitatively…
Motivated by some recent speculative attempts to model the dark energy, scalar fields with negative kinetic energy coupled to gravity without a cosmological constant are considered. It is shown that in the presence of an ordinary fluid, any…
In this work we introduce an effective model of $f(R)$ gravity containing a non-minimal coupling to the axion scalar field. The axion field is described by the misalignment model, in which the primordial $U(1)$ Peccei-Quinn symmetry is…
We present a phase-space analysis of cosmology containing multiple scalar fields with a positive or negative cross-coupling exponential potential. We show that there exist power-law kinetic-potential-scaling solutions for a sufficiently…
We examine in the context of general relativity the dynamics of a spatially flat Robertson-Walker universe filled with a classical minimally coupled scalar field \phi of exponential potential ~ e^{-\mu\phi} plus pressureless baryonic…
We study the change of the effective fine structure constant in the cosmological models of a scalar field with a non-vanishing coupling to the electromagnetic field. Combining cosmological data and terrestrial observations we place…
We observe that the standard homogeneous cosmologies, those of Minkowski, de Sitter, and anti-de Sitter, which form the matrix for the Robertson--Walker scale factor, live naturally as isolated points inside a larger family of conformally…
Accelerating universe or the existence of a small and positive cosmological constant is probably the most pressing obstacle as well as opportunity to significantly improving the models of four-dimensional cosmology from fundamental theories…
The observed cosmological constant may originate as the minimum value $U_{min}$ of a scalar field potential, where the scalar field is frozen due to a large mass. If this vacuum is metastable, it may decay to a true vacuum either at present…