Related papers: Accelerated Universe from Gravity Leaking to Extra…
The long-standing problem of whether the cosmological constant affects directly the deflection of light caused by a gravitational lens is reconsidered. We use a new approach based on the Hawking quasilocal mass of a sphere grazed by light…
Recent surveys seem to support bulk peculiar velocities well in excess of those anticipated by the standard cosmological model. In view of these results, we consider here some of the theoretical implications of large-scale drift motions. We…
The potential of gravitational lenses for providing direct, physical measurements of the Hubble constant, free from systematic errors associated with the traditional distance ladder, has long been recognized. However, it is only recently…
Recent observations of high-redshift supernovae seem to suggest that the global geometry of the Universe may be affected by a `cosmological constant', which acts to accelerate the expansion rate with time. But these data by themselves still…
Based on previously published alternative reflections on gravitation, additional conclusions concerning anomalous gravitational effects in the universe are derived. For systems with spherical mass distribution and high central density of…
Recent observations of the Universe have led to a conclusion suppressing an up-to-now supposed deceleration of the Universe caused by attractive gravitational forces. Contrary, there is a renaissance of the cosmological member lambda and…
The origin of the dark energy which is assumed to be responsible for the observed accelerated expansion of the universe still remains a scientific dilemma. Here we propose a tentative origin for this energy, if it is coming from a…
From an observational perspective cosmology is today in excellent shape - advances in instrumentation and data processing have enabled us to study the universe in detail back to when the first galaxies formed, map the fluctuations in the…
A large-scale smoothed-out model of the universe ignores small-scale inhomogeneities, but the averaged effects of those inhomogeneities may alter both observational and dynamical relations at the larger scale. This article discusses these…
We discuss recent evidence for an accelerating Universe from measurements of type Ia supernovae at high redshift, and describe tests of various systematic effects such as extinction and evolution that could be biasing the cosmological…
The peculiar velocities of galaxies are driven by gravity, and hence hold the promise of probing details of how gravity forms structures. In particular it is possible to constrain cosmological parameters and to test extensions to the…
The discovery ten years ago that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating put in place the present cosmological model, in which the Universe is composed of 4% baryons, 20% dark matter, and 76% dark energy. Yet the underlying cause of…
Models where the accelerated expansion of our Universe is caused by a quintessence scalar field are reviewed. In the framework of high energy physics, the physical nature of this field is discussed and its interaction with ordinary matter…
The origin of dark energy driving the accelerated expansion of the universe is still mysterious. We explore the possibility that dark energy fluctuates, resulting in spatial correlations. Due to these fluctuations, the Hubble rate itself…
An oscillating Universe which arises from the linearized R^{2} theory of gravity is discussed, showing that some observative evidences like the cosmological redshift and the Hubble law are in agreement with the model. In this context Dark…
It is shown here that a dynamical Planck mass can drive the scale factor of the universe to accelerate. The negative pressure which drives the cosmic acceleration is identified with the unusual kinetic energy density of the Planck field. No…
We study Kaluza-Klein cosmology in cuscuton gravity and find an exact solution describing an accelerating 4-dimensional universe with a stable extra dimension. A cuscuton which is a non-dynamical scalar field is responsible for the…
Relativistic aberration influences apparent luminosities of objects moving with relativistic relative velocities. The superluminosity or dimming of incoming or receding jets ejected from Active Galactic Nuclei is believed to be the…
Observations suggest that nearly seventy per cent of the energy density in the universe is unclustered and exerts negative pressure. Theoretical understanding of this component (`dark energy'), which is driving an accelerated expansion of…
The accelerating expansion of the universe presents an exciting, fundamental challenge to the standard models of particle physics and cosmology. I highlight some of the outstanding challenges in both developing theoretical models and…