Related papers: Cosmology in Minkowski space
Cosmology has come a long way from being based on a small number of observations to being a data-driven precision science. We discuss the questions "What is observable?", "What in the Universe is knowable?" and "What are the fundamental…
We review the study of inhomogeneous perturbations about a homogeneous and isotropic background cosmology. We adopt a coordinate based approach, but give geometrical interpretations of metric perturbations in terms of the expansion, shear…
For general number of spatial dimensions we investigate the cosmological dynamics driven by a cosmological constant and by a source with barotropic equation of state. It is assumed that for both those sources the energy density can be…
Cosmology struggles with the theoretical problems generated by the observed value and recent emergence of a cosmological constant, in the standard model of cosmology, i.e. the concordance model. We propose to provide a more natural…
Some remarkable examples of alternative cosmological theories are reviewed here, ranging from a compilation of variations on the Standard Model through the more distant quasi-steady-state cosmology, plasma cosmology, or universe models as a…
I propose an observationally and theoretically consistent resolution of the cosmological constant problem: $\Lambda$ is a counterterm -- with a running coupling -- that balances the monopole celestial sky average of the kinetic energy of…
We review a subset of the current tensions affecting the standard $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, emphasizing the role of chronic systematics and significance inflation in shaping their interpretation. As a unifying framework, we consider…
Physics invites the idea that space contains energy whose gravitational effect approximates that of Einstein's cosmological constant, Lambda; nowadays the concept is termed dark energy or quintessence. Physics also suggests the dark energy…
Much of modern cosmology relies on the Cosmological Principle, the assumption that the Universe is isotropic and homogeneous on sufficiently large scales, but it remains worthwhile to examine cosmological models that violate this principle…
We use cosmography to present constraints on the kinematics of the Universe, without postulating any underlying theoretical model. To this end, we use a Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis to perform comparisons to the supernova Ia Union 2…
We propose a phenomenological approach to the cosmological constant problem based on generally covariant non-local and acausal modifications of four-dimensional gravity at enormous distances. The effective Newton constant becomes very small…
A diverse set of observations now compellingly suggest that Universe possesses a nonzero cosmological constant. In the context of quantum-field theory a cosmological constant corresponds to the energy density of the vacuum, and the wanted…
In this thesis, the implications of a new cosmological model are studied, which has features similar to that of decaying vacuum cosmologies. Decaying vacuum (or cosmological constant \Lambda) models are the results of attempts to resolve…
We investigate anisotropic fluid cosmology in a situation where the spacetime metric back-reacts in a local, time-dependent way to the presence of inhomogeneities. We derive exact solutions to the Einstein field equations describing…
I briefly discuss the challenges presented by attempting to modify general relativity to obtain an explanation for the observed accelerated expansion of the universe. Foremost among these are the questions of theoretical consistency - the…
We introduce the "wedge diagram," an intuitive way to illustrate how cosmological models with a classical (non-singular) bounce generically resolve fundamental problems in cosmology. These include the well-known horizon, flatness, and…
Gravitation is described in the context of a dilatonic theory that is conformally related to general relativity. All dimensionless ratios of fundamental dimensional quantities, e.g. particle masses and the Planck mass, as well as the…
Since the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the present Universe, significant theoretical developments have been made in the area of modified gravity. In the meantime, cosmological observations have been providing more high-quality…
Cosmology is intrinsically intertwined with questions in fundamental physics. The existence of non-baryonic dark matter requires new physics beyond the Standard Model of elemenatary-particle interactions and Einstein's general relativity,…
An alternative to the postulate of dark energy required to explain the accelerated expansion of the universe is to adopt an inhomogeneous cosmological model to explain the supernovae data without dark energy. We adopt a void cosmology…