Related papers: Quintessential Difficulties
It was recently proposed that five-dimensional inflation can relate the causal size of the observable universe to the present weakness of gravitational interactions by blowing up an extra compact dimension from the microscopic fundamental…
We study Quintessence cosmologies in the context of scalar-tensor theories of gravity, where a scalar field $\phi$, assumed to provide most of the cosmic energy density today, is non-minimally coupled to the Ricci curvature scalar $R$. Such…
Assuming the space dimension is not constant but decreases during the expansion of the Universe, we study chaotic inflation with the potential $m^2 \phi^2/2$. We write down field equations in the slow-roll approximation and define slow…
The usual description of inflationary fluctuations uses the framework of quantum field theory (QFT) in curved spacetime, in which quantum fluctuations are superimposed on a classical background spacetime. Even for large fluctuations, such…
The evolution of a scalar field is explored taking into account the presence of a background fluid in a positively curved Universe in the framework of loop quantum cosmology. Though the mechanism that provides the initial conditions for…
We examine models in which the accelerated expansion of the universe is driven by a scalar field rolling near an inflection point in the potential. For the simplest such models, in which the potential is of the form V(\phi) = V_0 + V_3…
In this paper we consider a scalar field system with a class of potentials given by the expression, $V(\phi)\propto \phi^m {\rm exp}({-\lambda \phi^n/{M^n_{Pl}}})$; $m\geqslant 0, n>1$ for which $\Gamma=V_{\phi \phi}V/V^2_{\phi}\to 1 $ as…
The cosmological constant problem is how one chooses, without fine-tuning, one singular point $\Lambda_{eff}=0$ for the 4D cosmological constant. We argue that some recently discovered {\it weak self-tuning} solutions can be viewed as…
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, as succinctly studied in \cite{Benisty:2020xqm}. The…
We consider a quintessential sector realized on a hidden brane with a tiny warp factor, which implies a small value of the effective four-dimensional cosmological constant through an equation of motion for the quintessential scalar.
The linear cosmological perturbation theory of almost homogeneous and isotropic perfect fluid and scalar field universes is reconsidered and formally simplified. Using the existence of a covariant conserved quantity on large perturbation…
In a previous paper we proposed a new approach to the beginning of inflation -- a lingering universe. The universe begins in a lingering state with a nearly vanishing Hubble parameter. This calls into question the absolute age of the…
There exists a growing body of observational evidence supporting a non-vanishing cosmological constant at the present epoch. We examine the possibility that such a term may arise directly from the potential energy which drove an…
The dynamics of a minimally coupled scalar field in the expanding universe is discussed with special reference to phantom cosmology. The evolution of the universe with a phantom field vis-a-vis a quintessence field is compared. Phantom…
In this paper we study a quintessence scalar field in a potential exponentially decreasing with e-folding number, and show that the universe is currently undergoing an accelerated expansion and could probably remain accelerating…
I try to revive, and possibly reconcile, a debate started a few years ago, about the relative roles of a bare cosmological constant and of a vacuum energy, by taking the attitude to try to get the most from the physics now available as…
We find a unique way of realizing inflation through cyclic phases in an universe with negative vacuum energy. According to the second law of thermodynamics entropy monotonically increases from cycle to cycle, typically by a constant factor.…
If the recent observations suggesting a time variation of the fine structure constant are correct, they imply the existence of an ultra light scalar particle. This particle inevitably couples to nucleons through the \alpha-dependence of…
Cosmography is a model-independent phenomenological approach to observational cosmology, relying on Taylor series expansions of physical quantities as a function of the cosmological redshift or other analogous variables. A recent work…
We develop general criteria to construct unified frameworks for inflation and quintessence which employ a unique scalar field to drive both. By using such a minimal theoretical framework we avoid having to fine-tune couplings and…