Related papers: Quintessential Difficulties
Why the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ observed today is so much smaller than the Planck scale or why the universe is accelerating at present? This is so-called the cosmological constant fine-tuning problem. In this paper, we find that…
We investigate inflation within $f(R,\phi)$-theories, where a dynamical scalar field is coupled to gravity. A class of models which can support early-time acceleration with the emerging of an effective cosmological constant at high…
Scale invariance is considered in the context of gravitational theories where the action, in the first order formalism, is of the form $S = \int L_{1} \Phi d^4x$ + $\int L_{2}\sqrt{-g}d^4x$ where the volume element $\Phi d^4x$ is…
We study cosmological solutions for the very early universe beginning at the Planck scale for a universe containing radiation, curvature and, as a simplification of a possible scalar field potential, a cosmological constant term. The…
A bouncing cosmology with an initial matter-dominated phase of contraction during which scales which are currently probed with cosmological observations exit the Hubble radius provides a mechanism alternative to inflation for producing a…
I briefly review the cosmological constant problem and the issue of dark energy (or quintessence). Within the framework of quantum field theory, the vacuum expectation value of the energy momentum tensor formally diverges as $k^4$. A cutoff…
This thesis is dedicated to studying cosmological inflation, which is a period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe that is required to explain the observed anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. Inflation, when…
From the assumption that the slow roll parameter $\epsilon$ has a Lorentzian form as a function of the e-folds number $N$, a successful model of a quintessential inflation is obtained. The form corresponds to the vacuum energy both in the…
We consider the cosmological application of a (variant of) relatively newly proposed model \cite{1609.06915} unifying inflation, dark energy, dark matter, and the Higgs mechanism. The model was originally defined using additional…
Single-field models of accelerated expansion with nearly flat potentials, despite being able to provide observationally viable explanations for the early-time cosmic inflation and the late-time cosmic acceleration, are in strong tension…
Assuming the existence of a cosmological constant depending on time, we study the evolution of this field in a local region of spacetime. Solving the standard equations of Einstein Relativity in the weak field approximation we find two…
Previously defined covariant and gauge-invariant perturbation variables, representing, e.g., the fractional spatial energy density gradient on hypersurfaces of constant expansion, are used to simplify the linear perturbation analysis of a…
One of the strongest arguments against the cosmological constant as an explanation of the current epoch of accelerated cosmic expansion is the existence of an earlier, dynamical acceleration, i.e. inflation. We examine the likelihood that…
Though predictions of the simplest inflationary cosmological models with cold dark matter, flat space and approximately flat initial spectrum of adiabatic perturbations are remarkably close to observational data, we have to go beyond them…
We will show that for exponential type potentials, which are used to depict quintessential inflation, the solutions whose initial conditions take place during the slow roll phase in order to describe correctly the inflationary period do not…
We show that the potential of the scalar field in the Einstein frame is flat if the nonminimal coupling term is properly chosen that it satisfies the condition (V(phi)/K^2(phi)-> constant) as phi gets large. The cosmological implication of…
Cosmography is a phenomenological and relatively model-independent approach to cosmology, where physical quantities are expanded as a Taylor series in the cosmological redshift, or in related variables. Here we apply this methodology to…
We point out that quintessence with an exponential potential V_0 exp(- beta phi / 3^{1/2} M_p) can account for the present observed acceleration of the universe, without necessarily leading to eternal acceleration. This occurs for 2.4 <…
Quintessence - the energy density of a slowly evolving scalar field - may constitute a dynamical form of the homogeneous dark energy in the universe. We review the basic idea and indicate observational tests which may distinguish…
A new idea of deriving a cosmological term from an underlying theory has been proposed in order to explain the expansion history of the universe. We obtain the scale factor with this derived cosmological term and demonstrate that it…