Related papers: Quintessence, scalar-tensor theories and non-Newto…
We show how the scalar field, a candidate of quintessence, in a proposed model of the scalar-tensor theories of gravity provides a way to understand a small but nonzero cosmological constant as indicated by recent observations. A particular…
Cosmological solutions of the Brans-Dicke theory with an added cosmological constant are investigated with an emphasis to select a conformal frame in order to implement the scenario of a decaying cosmological constant, featuring an ever…
The framework for considering the astronomical and cosmological observations in the context of scalar-tensor quintessence in which the quintessence field also accounts for a time dependence of the gravitational constant is developed. The…
We investigate the possibility of replacing the cosmological constant with gradual condensation of a scalar field produced during the decay of a superheavy dark matter. The advantage of this class of models to the ordinary quintessence is…
In order to reconcile the non conventional character of brane cosmology with standard Friedmann cosmology, we introduce in this paper a slowly-varying quintessence scalar field in the brane and analyse the cosmological solutions…
We consider an effective field theory description of gravity coupled to a scalar field with volume-preserving diffeomorphism and Weyl invariances. The smallness of the cosmological constant is achieved when the potential of the scalar is…
Dynamical vacuum energy or quintessence, a slowly varying and spatially inhomogeneous component of the energy density with negative pressure, is currently consistent with the observational data. One potential difficulty with the idea of…
The scalar-tensor theory of gravitation has been and still is one of the most widely discussed "alternative theories" to General Relativity (GR). Despite nearly half a century of its age, it continues to attract renewed interests of not…
Scalar-tensor theories are the best motivated alternatives to general relativity and provide a mathematically consistent framework to test the various observable predictions. They can involve three functions of the scalar field: (i) a…
We highlight the fact that the lack of scale invariance in the gravitational field equations of General Relativity results from the underlying assumption that the appropriate scale for the gravitational force should be linked to the atomic…
We consider the problem of building inhomogeneous cosmological models in scalar-tensor theories of gravity. This starts by splitting the field equations of these theories into constraint and evolution equations, and then proceeds by…
A new approach to the cosmological constant problem is proposed by modifying Einstein's theory of general relativity, using instead a scalar-tensor theory of gravitation. This theory of gravity crucially incorporates the concept of quantum…
This talk is based on my work in collaboration with B. Boisseau, D. Polarski, and A.A. Starobinsky. The most natural and best-motivated alternatives to general relativity are the so-called "scalar-tensor" theories, in which the…
It was recently pointed out that the cosmological constant (even metastable one) belongs to the so-called "swampland" and hence cannot be obtained as the low-energy limit of string theory that requires $|\nabla V| > c V$. If true, the dark…
We study the cosmological evolution of the universe when quintessence is modeled within supergravity, supersymmetry is broken in a hidden sector, and we also include observable matter in a third independent sector. We find that the presence…
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…
Within the scheme of modified gravity, an exponential Lagrangian density will be considered, and the corresponding scalar-tensor description will be addressed for both positive and negative values of the cosmological constant. For negative…
Scalar fields with inverse power-law effective potentials may provide a negative pressure component to the energy density of the universe today, as required by cosmological observations. In order to be cosmologically relevant today, the…
The discovery of cosmic acceleration motivated extensive studies of dynamical dark energy and modified gravity models. Of particular interest are the scalar-tensor theories, with a scalar field dark energy non-minimally coupled to matter.…
The cosmological consequences of a simple scalar field model for the generation of Newton's constant through the spontaneous breaking of scale invariance in a curved space-time are again presented and discussed. Such a model leads to a…