Related papers: Scale invariance, new inflation and decaying Lambd…
We study the cosmological evolution of scalar fields with arbitrary potentials in the presence of a barotropic fluid (matter or radiation) without making any assumption on which term dominates. We determine what kind of potentials V(phi)…
The mechanism of the initial inflationary scenario of the universe and of its late-time acceleration can be described by assuming the existence of some gravitationally coupled scalar fields $\phi $, with the inflaton field generating…
We examine the question of scale versus conformal invariance on maximally symmetric curved backgrounds and study general 2-derivative conformally invariant free theories of vectors and tensors. For spacetime dimension $D>4$, these conformal…
The energy density of the universe today may be dominated by the vacuum energy of a slowly rolling scalar field. Making a quantum expansion around such a time dependent solution is found to break fundamental symmetries of quantum field…
In this work we study a modified version of $f(R)$ gravity in which higher order kinetic terms of a scalar field are added in the action of vacuum $f(R)$ gravity. This type of theory is a type of $k$-essence $f(R)$ gravity, and it belongs…
We consider a scalar field $\phi$ whose coupling to the kinetic term of a non-abelian gauge field is set at an UV scale $M$. Then the confinement of the gauge sector will induce a $\phi$-dependent vacuum energy which generates a…
We show that the inclusion of a term $C_{abcd}C^{abcd}$ in the action can remove the recently described anisotropic singularity occurring on the hypersurface $F(\phi)=0$ of scalar-tensor theories of gravity of the type $$ S=\int d^4x…
We discuss the global properties of static, spherically symmetric configurations of a self-gravitating real scalar field $\phi$ in general relativity (GR), scalar-tensor theories (STT) and high-order gravity ($L=f(R)$) in various…
False vacuum decay in field theory may be formulated as a boundary value problem in Euclidean space. In a previous work, we studied its solution in single scalar field theories with quadratic gravity and used it to find obstructions to…
For variable gravity models the strength of gravity, as measured by Newton's ``constant'' or the Planck mass, depends on the value of a scalar field, the cosmon. We discuss two simple four-parameter models with a quadratic or constant…
We explore the possibility of a consistent cosmology based on the gauge-fixing independent running of the gravitational and cosmological constants ($G$ and $\Lambda$) in the framework of effective quantum gravity. In particular, their…
n scalar-tensor theories of gravity with torsion, the gravitational field is described in terms of a symmetric metric tensor $g$, a metric-compatible connection $\nabla$ with torsion, and a scalar field $\phi$. The main aim is to explore an…
A scale invariant, Weyl geometric, Lagrangian approach to cosmology is explored, with a a scalar field phi of (scale) weight -1 as a crucial ingredient besides classical matter \cite{Tann:Diss,Drechsler:Higgs}. For a particularly simple…
Quantum gravity computations suggest the existence of an ultraviolet and an infrared fixed point where quantum scale invariance emerges as an exact symmetry. We discuss a particular variable gravity model for the crossover between these…
Scale invariant theories which contain maximal rank gauge field strengths (of $D$ indices in $D$ dimensions) are studied. The integration of the equations of motion of these gauge fields leads to the s.s.b. of scale invariance. The cases in…
In this paper we shall show that, unless the affine geometrical structure of the underlying spacetime manifold is specified, there is an ambiguity in the understanding of the scale invariance -- also Weyl invariance -- of the given theory…
We derive an effective gravitational potential, induced by the quantum wavefunction of a physical vacuum of a self-gravitating configuration, while the vacuum itself is viewed as the superfluid described by the logarithmic quantum wave…
We present new exact cosmological inhomogeneous solutions for gravity coupled to a scalar field in a general framework specified by the parameter $\lambda$. The equations of motion (and consequently the solutions) in this framework…
We investigate the cosmological applications of a bi-scalar modified gravity that exhibits partial conformal invariance, which could become full conformal invariance in the absence of the usual Einstein-Hilbert term and introducing…
The dilaton-gravity sector of a linear in the scalar curvature, scale invariant Two Measures Field Theory (TMT), is explored in detail in the context of closed FRW cosmology and shown to allow stable emerging universe solutions. The model…