Related papers: New "Bigs" in cosmology
The big rip, the little rip and the little sibling of the big rip are cosmological doomsdays predicted by some phantom dark energy models that could describe the future evolution of our Universe. When the universe evolves towards either of…
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…
In the last decades, luminous accreting super-massive black holes have been discovered within the first Gyr after the Big Bang, but their origin is still an unsolved mystery. We discuss our state-of-the-art theoretical knowledge of their…
A scenario for a quantum big crunch to big bang transition is proposed. We first clarify the similarities between this transition and the final stages of black hole evaporation. The black hole and the universe are thought of as quantum…
We consider the causal structure of generalized uncharged McVittie spacetimes with increasing central mass $m (t)$ and positive Hubble factor $H (t)$. Under physically reasonable conditions, namely, a big bang singularity in the past, a…
A black universe is a nonsingular black hole where, beyond the horizon, there is an expanding, asymptotically isotropic universe. Such models have been previously found as solutions of general relativity with a phantom scalar field as a…
A set of temporal singularities (transients) in the mass-energy density and pressure, bearing a specific mathematical structure which represents a new solution to the continuity equation (\ie~conservation of mass-energy) and satisfying the…
I suggest the existence of a still undiscovered interaction: repulsion between matter and antimatter. The simplest and the most elegant candidate for such a force is gravitational repulsion between particles and antiparticles. I argue that…
The consideration of dark energy's quanta, required also by thermodynamics, introduces its chemical potential into the cosmological equations. Isolating its main contribution, we obtain solutions with dark energy decaying to matter or…
We review some of the well-known features of quantum cosmology, such as the factor ordering problem, the wave function and the density matrix, for a dark energy dominated universe, where analytical solutions can be obtained. For the…
The emergence of the first black holes during the first billion years of cosmic history marks a key event in cosmology. Their formation is part of the overall process of ending the cosmic dark ages, when the first stars appeared in low-mass…
Astronomical observations have confirmed the existence of BHs and the occurrence of the Big Bang event to beyond any reasonable doubt. While quantum field theory and general theory of relativity predict the mass-spectrum of BHs to be…
Dark energy of phantom or quintessence nature with an equation of state parameter $w$ almost equal to -1 often leads the universe evolution to a finite-time future singularity. An elegant solution to this problem has been recently proposed…
We present a short introduction to a non-standard cosmological scenario motivated by the duality symmetries of string theory, in which the big bang singularity is replaced with a "big bounce" at high but finite curvature. The bouncing epoch…
We propose a cosmological model that makes a significant step toward solving the coincidence problem of the near similarity at the present of the dark energy and dark matter components. Our cosmology has the following properties: a) among…
The spherically symmetric accretion of dark and phantom energy onto Morris-Thorne wormholes is considered. It is obtained that the accretion of phantom energy leads to a gradual increase of the wormhole throat radius which eventually…
Phantom dark energy models, with w < -1, are characterized by a future singularity and therefore a finite lifetime for the universe. Because the future singularity is triggered by the onset of dark-energy domination, the universe spends a…
In the standard cosmological model the dark energy (DE) and nonrelativistic (NR) matter densities are observationally determined to be comparable at the present time, in spite of their greatly different evolution histories. This `cosmic…
This essay is a nontechnical primer for a broader audience, in which I paint a broad-brush picture of modern cosmology. I begin by reviewing the evidence for the big bang, including the expansion of our Universe, the cosmic microwave…
Black holes are extremely dense and compact objects from which light cannot escape. There is an overall consensus that black holes exist and many astronomical objects are identified with black holes. White holes were understood as the exact…