Related papers: The Cosmic Energy Inventory
Observational evidence indicating that the expansion of the universe is accelerating has surprised cosmologists in recent years. Cosmological models have sought to explain this acceleration by incorporating `dark energy', of which the…
The energy and momentum for different cosmological models using various prescriptions are evaluated. In particular, we have focused our attention on the energy and momentum for gravitational waves and discuss the results. It is concluded…
Rather uncomplicated calculations by hand display a surprising connection between the energy density of the vacuum and the diameter and age of the universe. Among other things, the result explains the observation of the accelerated…
A brief but broad survey is presented of the flows, forms and large-scale transformations of mass-energy in the universe, spanning a range of about twenty orders of magnitude (m_{Planck}/m_{proton}) in space, time and mass. Forms of energy…
The cosmological model best capable of fitting current observational data features two separate epochs during which the Universe is accelerating. During the earliest stages of the Universe, such acceleration is known as cosmological…
We discuss a model of the universe where dark energy is replaced by electrically-charged extremely-massive dark matter. The cosmological constant has a value of the same order as the mean matter density, consistent with observations, and is…
The evolution of the Universe is traditionally examined by monitoring how its material content evolves as it expands. This model of an isolated system is expressed as the equation of motion of the bulk but segmented into different epochs.…
The dynamics of our universe is characterised by the density parameters for cosmological constant ($\Omega_V$), nonbaryonic darkmatter($\Omega_{\rm wimp}$), radiation ($\Omega_R$) and baryons ($\Omega_B$). To these parameters -- which…
We examine the possibility that a significant component of the energy density of the universe has an equation-of-state different from that of matter, radiation or cosmological constant ($\Lambda$). An example is a cosmic scalar field…
The effective evolution of an inhomogeneous cosmological model may be described in terms of spatially averaged variables. We point out that in this context, quite naturally, a measure arises which is identical to a fluid model of the…
The principles of General Relativity allow for a non-vanishing cosmological constant, which can possibly be interpreted at least partially in terms of quantum-fluctuations of matter fields. Depending on sign and magnitude it can cause…
The present status of our knowledge about the dark matter and dark energy is reviewed. Bounds on the content of cold and hot dark matter from cosmological observations are discussed in some detail. I also review current bounds on the…
On the basis of our quantum cosmological approach we show that there can be two previously unknown types of collective states in the universe. One of them relates to a gravitational field, another is connected with a matter (scalar) field…
Complex systems throughout Nature display structures and functions that are built and maintained, at least in part, by optimal energies flowing through them--not specific, ideal values, rather ranges in energy rate density below which…
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…
In the timescape scenario cosmic acceleration is understand as an apparent effect, due to gravitational energy gradients that grow when spatial curvature gradients become significant with the nonlinear growth of cosmic structure. This…
The discovery ten years ago that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating put in place the last major building block of the present cosmological model, in which the Universe is composed of 4% baryons, 20% dark matter, and 76% dark…
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…
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new, accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments. Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate of…
The behavior of the gravitating vacuum energy density in an expanding universe is discussed. A scenario is presented with a step-wise relaxation of the vacuum energy density. The vacuum energy density moves from plateau to plateau and…