Related papers: Using a non-minimal coupling between matter and cu…
It was recently suggested that the cosmological constant problem as viewed in a non-perturbative framework is intimately connected to the choice of time and a physical Hamiltonian. We develop this idea further by calculating the…
The cosmological constant problem is examined under the assumption that the extrinsic curvature of the space-time contributes to the vacuum. A compensation mechanism based on a variable cosmological term is proposed. Under a suitable…
We show that the combined minimal and non minimal interaction with the gravitational field may produce the generation of a cosmological constant without self-interaction of the scalar field. In the same vein we analyze the existence of…
A mechanism for suppressing the cosmological constant is described, using a superconducting analogy in which fermions coupled to gravitons are in an unstable false vauum. The coupling of the fermions to gravitons and a screened attractive…
A mechanism for suppressing the cosmological constant is developed, based on an analogy with a superconducting phaseshift in which free fermions coupled perturbatively to a weak gravitational field are in an unstable false vacuum state. The…
In this work a new non-minimally coupled model is presented, where a generic function $f(R)$ of the scalar curvature factors the usual Einstein-Hilbert action functional, motivated by relevant results obtained from similar models. Its…
Self tuning is one of the few methods for dynamically cancelling a large cosmological constant and yet giving an accelerating universe. Its drawback is that it tends to screen all sources of energy density, including matter. We develop a…
We propose a model for the dust matter in the cosmological context. The model contains a scalar field with a kinetic term nonminimally coupled to gravity. By investigating the background and perturbative equations, it is demonstrated that…
We study black hole solutions in an extension of General Relativity (GR) with an explicit non-minimal coupling between matter and curvature. General black hole solutions satisfying the known energy conditions are derived including the ones…
We study a theory which generalizes the nonminimal coupling of matter to gravity by including derivative couplings. This leads to several interesting new dynamical phenomena in cosmology. In particular, the range of parameters in which…
We have critically compared different approaches to the cosmological constant problem, which is at the edge of elementary particle physics and cosmology. This problem is deeply connected with the difficulties formulating a theory of quantum…
We address issues on the origin of gravity and the cosmological constant problem based on a recent understanding about the correspondence between noncommutative field theory and gravity. We suggest that the cosmological constant problem can…
A quantization of unimodular gravity is described, which results in a quantum effective action which is also unimodular, ie a function of a metric with fixed determinant. A consequence is that contributions to the energy momentum tensor of…
The cosmological constant problem represents a profound conflict between quantum field theory and general relativity. Unimodular gravity offers a compelling starting point by de-gravitating the vacuum energy of the Standard Model, but this…
A two dimensional matter coupled model of quantum gravity is studied in the Dirac approach to constrained dynamics in the presence of a cosmological constant. It is shown that after partial fixing to the conformal gauge the requirement of a…
In this work, one examines how the presence of a non-minimal coupling between the spacetime curvature and matter affects the evolution of cosmological perturbations around a homogeneous and isotropic Universe and hence the formation of…
One of the most interesting and current phenomenological extensions of General Relativity is the so-called $f (R)$ class of theories; a natural generalization of this includes an explicit non-minimal coupling between matter and curvature.…
We investigate the properties of vacuum decay taking into account a non-minimal coupling to gravity. We extend the standard thin-wall solution to include the non-minimal coupling and verify its validity by comparison with a full numerical…
Dynamical vacuum energy or quintessence, a slowly varying and spatially inhomogeneous component of the energy density with negative pressure, is currently consistent with the observational data. One potential difficulty with the idea of…
We construct an extension of f(T) gravity with the inclusion of a non-minimal torsion-matter coupling in the action. The resulting theory is a novel gravitational modification, since it is different from both f(T) gravity, as well as from…