Related papers: Nonsingular bouncing cosmology in general relativi…
Physical time intervals are attributes of single physical object whereas physical space intervals are a relational attribute of two physical objects. Some consequences of the breaking of the space-time exchange symmetry inherent in the…
A range of cosmological observations demonstrate an accelerated expansion of the Universe, and the most likely explanation of this phenomenon is a cosmological constant. Given the importance of understanding the underlying physics, it is…
I briefly review the cosmological constant problem and the issue of dark energy (or quintessence). Within the framework of quantum field theory, the vacuum expectation value of the energy momentum tensor formally diverges as $k^4$. A cutoff…
We derive strong observational limits on any possible large-scale spatial variation in the values of physical 'constants' whose space-time evolution is driven by a scalar field. The limits are imposed by the isotropy of the microwave…
We present several higher-dimensional spacetimes for which observers living on 3-branes experience an induced metric which bounces. The classes of examples include boundary branes on generalised S-brane backgrounds and probe branes in…
We explicitly confirm that spatially flat non-singular bouncing cosmologies make sense as effective theories. The presence of a non-singular bounce in a spatially flat universe implies a temporary violation of the null energy condition,…
We review recent studies that rigorously define several key observables of the large-scale structure of the Universe in a general relativistic context. Specifically, we consider i) redshift perturbation of cosmic clock events; ii)…
There are now evidences that the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ has a non-zero positive value. Alternative scenarios to a pure cosmological constant model are provided by quintessence, an effective negative pressure fluid permeating the…
In a universe where, according to the standard cosmological models, some 97% of the total mass-energy is still "missing in action" it behooves us to spend at least a little effort critically assessing and exploring radical alternatives.…
We investigate two simplified non-singular cyclic models with a negative time-varying cosmological constant to represent the non-conventional mechanism of negative cosmological constant expected to address the late-time cosmic acceleration.…
Power-law corrections (having the exponent strictly between 2 and 3) to the Einstein-Hilbert action yield an extended theory of gravity which is consistent with Solar-System tests and properly reproduces the main phases of the Universe…
In the presence of a cosmological constant, ordinary Poincare' special relativity is no longer valid and must be replaced by a de Sitter special relativity, in which Minkowski space is replaced by a de Sitter spacetime. In consequence, the…
If space-time is emergent from a fundamentally non-geometric theory it will generically be left with defects. Such defects need not respect the locality that emerges with the background. Here, we develop a phenomenological model that…
General relativity describes gravitation in terms of the geometry of spacetime. It predicts the existence of gravitational waves (GWs) that stretch and compress spacetime and were detected recently by state-of-the-art interferometer…
We present a detailed study of a simple scalar field model that yields non-singular cosmological solutions. We study both the qualitative dynamics of the homogeneous and isotropic background and the evolution of inhomogeneous linear…
Quantum gravity places entirely new challenges on the formulation of a consistent theory as well as on an extraction of potentially observable effects. Quantum corrections due to the gravitational field are commonly expected to be tiny…
In this paper I argue for a reassessment of special relativity. The fundamental theory of relativity applicable in this Universe has to be consistent with the existence of the massive Universe, and with the effects of its gravitational…
Observations conducted over the last few decades show that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating. In the standard model of cosmology, this accelerated expansion is attributed to a dark energy in the form of a cosmological constant.…
In bouncing cosmology, the primordial fluctuations are generated in a cosmic contraction phase before the bounce into the current expansion phase. For a nonsingular bounce, curvature and anisotropy grow rapidly during the bouncing phase,…
In this paper, we analyze the modified $f(\mathcal{R})$ gravity models in Friedmann--Lema\^{\i}tre--Robertson--Walker (FLRW) background. The actions of bouncing cosmology are studied under consideration of different viable models in…