Related papers: Unavoidable shear from quantum fluctuations in con…
We consider the introduction of anisotropy in a class of bouncing models of cosmology. The presence of anisotropy often spells doom on bouncing models, since the energy density due to the anisotropic stress outweighs that of other matter…
We consider bouncing cosmologies in which an ekpyrotic contraction phase with w >> 1 is followed by a bouncing phase with w < -1 that violates the null energy condition. The bouncing phase, induced by ghost condensation, is designed to…
The flow of frictionless granular particles is studied with stress-controlled discrete element modeling simulations for systems varying in size from 300 to 100,000 particles. The volume fraction and shear stress ratio $\mu$ are relatively…
We point out that the standard formulation of the cosmological constant problem itself is problematic since it is trying to apply the very large scale homogeneous cosmological model to very small (Planck) scale phenomenon. At small scales,…
Quantum fluctuations of a nonminimally coupled scalar field in D-dimensional homogeneous and isotropic background are calculated within the operator formalism in curved models with time evolutions of the scale factor that allow smooth…
Massless scalar fields originating in a quantum vacuum state acquire a scale-invariant spectrum of fluctuations in a matter-dominated contracting universe. We show that these isocurvature fluctuations transfer to a scale-invariant spectrum…
Spatial correlations of microscopic fluctuations are investigated via real-space experiments and computer simulations of colloidal glasses under steady shear. It is shown that while the distribution of one-particle fluctuations is always…
Concordance cosmology points to a Universe of zero mean curvature, due to the inflation mechanism which occurred soon after the Big Bang, while along a relatively small number of lower redshift light paths where lensing events are observed,…
Discrete element numerical simulations of unsteady, homogeneous shear flows have been performed by instantly applying a constant shear rate to a random, static, isotropic assembly of identical, soft, frictional spheres at either zero or…
In the matter bounce scenario, a dust-dominated contracting space-time generates scale-invariant perturbations that, assuming a nonsingular bouncing cosmology, propagate to the expanding branch and set appropriate initial conditions for the…
We show that, due to the nonlinear nature of gravity, fluctuations in spacetime curvature generate additional gravitational attraction. This fluctuation-induced extra attraction was overlooked in the conventional understanding of the…
We calculate the power spectrum of vacuum fluctuations of a generic scalar field in a quantum cosmological setting that is manifestly singularity-free. The power spectrum is given in terms of the usual scale invariant spectrum plus scale…
Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large…
We investigate how the pressure in fluctuating shear flow depends on the shear rate $S$ and on the system size $L$ by studying fluctuating hydrodynamics under shear conditions. We derive anomalous forms of the pressure for two limiting…
We calculate the scalar power spectrum generated by sourced fluctuations due to coupling between the scalar field, which holds most of the energy density of the universe, and a gauge field for a general FLRW metric. For this purpose we…
The importance of mesoscale fluctuations in flowing amorphous materials is widely accepted, without a clear understanding of their role. We propose a mean-field elastoplastic model that admits both stress and strain-rate fluctuations, and…
A correspondence between fluctuations of non-minimally coupled scalar fields and that of an effective fluid with heat flux and anisotropic stresses, is shown. Though the correspondence between respective stress tensors of scalar fields and…
If one is willing to give up the cherished hypothesis of spatial isotropy, many interesting cosmological models can be developed beyond the simple anisotropically expanding scenarios. One interesting possibility is presented by shear-free…
It is known that the unregularized expressions for the stress-energy tensor components corresponding to subhorizon and superhorizon vacuum fluctuations of a massless scalar field in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker background are characterized…
We revisit the quantum theory of a massive, minimally coupled scalar field, propagating on the Planck-era isotropic cosmological quantum spacetime which transitions to a classical spacetime in later times. The quantum effects modify the…