Related papers: Assessing cosmological evidence for non-minimal co…
The present thesis is a collection of papers which deals with analytic models that can drive the present accelerated expansion of the universe, starting from a decelerated expansion in the early matter dominated regime. Both minimally and…
We outline a dynamical dark energy scenario whose signatures may be simultaneously tested by astronomical observations and laboratory experiments. The dark energy is a field with slightly sub-gravitational couplings to matter, a logarithmic…
In many cases a nonlinear scalar field with potential $V$ can lead to accelerated expansion in cosmological models. This paper contains mathematical results on this subject for homogeneous spacetimes. It is shown that, under the assumption…
We discuss some of the issues which we encounter when we try to invoke the scalar-tensor theories of gravitation as a theoretical basis of quintessence. One of the advantages of appealing to these theories is that they allow us to implement…
We address the fine-tuning problem of dark energy cosmologies which arises when the dark energy density needs to initially lie in a narrow range in order for its present value to be consistent with observations. As recently noticed, this…
We propose that dark energy in the form of a scalar field could effectively couple to dark matter inhomogeneities. Through this coupling energy could be transferred to/from the scalar field, which could possibly enter an accelerated regime.…
Any theory invoked to explain cosmic acceleration predicts consistency relations between the expansion history, structure growth, and all related observables. Currently there exist high-quality measurements of the expansion history from…
The variant of the quintessence theory is proposed in order to get an accelerated expansion of the Friedmannian Universe in the frameworks of relativistic theory of gravitation. The substance of quintessence is built up the scalar field of…
We describe scalar-bimetric theories where the dynamics of the Universe are governed by two separate metrics, each with an Einstein-Hilbert term. In this setting, the baryonic and dark matter components of the Universe couple to metrics…
This work explores the dynamical stability of cosmological models where dark matter and dark energy can non-minimally couple to spacetime (scalar) curvature. Two different scenarios are presented here. In the initial case, only dark matter…
We study the background cosmological dynamics with a three component source content: a radiation fluid, a barotropic fluid to mimic the matter sector and a single scalar field which can act as dark energy giving rise to the late-time…
The late time acceleration of the Universe can be characterized in terms of an extra, time dependent, component of the universe -- dark energy. The simplest proposal for dark energy is a scalar-tensor theory -- quintessence -- which…
We study models of late-time cosmic acceleration in terms of scalar-tensor theories generalized to include a certain class of non-linear derivative interaction of the scalar field. The non-linear effect suppress the scalar-mediated force at…
We consider cosmological dynamics in the theory of gravity with the scalar field possessing a nonminimal kinetic coupling to gravity, $\kappa G_{\mu\nu}\phi^{\mu}\phi^{\nu}$, and the power-law potential $V(\phi)=V_0\phi^N$. Using the…
The search for constituents that can explain the periods of accelerating expansion of the Universe is a fundamental topic in cosmology. In this context, we investigate how fermionic fields minimally and non-minimally coupled with the…
The origin of the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe is a major problem of modern cosmology and theoretical physics. Simple estimations of the contribution of vacuum to the density energy of the universe in quantum field…
The canonical cosmological model to explain the recent acceleration of the universe relies on a cosmological constant, and most dynamical dark energy and modified gravity model alternatives are based on scalar fields. Still, further…
We investigate a cosmological model in which dark energy, represented by a quintessential scalar field, is directly coupled to a dark-matter perfect fluid. We are interested in solutions of cosmological relevance, namely those for which a…
A new kind of accelerating flat model with no dark energy that is fully dominated by cold dark matter (CDM) is investigated. The number of CDM particles is not conserved and the present accelerating stage is a consequence of the negative…
The dynamical properties of a model of dark energy in which two scalar fields are coupled by a non-canonical kinetic term are studied. We show that overall the addition of the coupling has only minor effects on the dynamics of the two-field…