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We determine under what conditions Scalar Tensor cosmologies predict an expansion rate which is reduced as compared to the standard General Relativity case. We show that ST theories with a single matter sector typically predict an enchanced Hubble rate in the past, as a consequence of the requirement of an attractive fixed point towards General Relativity at late times. Instead, when additional matter sectors with different conformal factors are added, the late time convergence to General Relativity is mantained and at the same time a reduced expansion rate in the past can be driven. For suitable choices of the parameters which govern the scalar field evolution, a sizeable reduction (up to about 2 orders of magnitude) of the Hubble rate prior to Big Bang Nucleosynthesis can be obtained. We then discuss the impact of these cosmological models on the relic abundance of dark matter is minimal Supergravity models: we show that the cosmologically allowed regions in parameter space are significantly enlarged, implying a change in the potential reach of LHC on the neutralino phenomenology.
In minimal Supergravity (mSUGRA) models the lightest supersymmetric particle (assumed to be the lightest neutralino) provides an excellent cold dark matter (CDM) candidate. The supersymmetric parameter space is significantly reduced, if the limits on the CDM relic density, obtained from WMAP data, are used. Assuming a vanishing trilinear scalar coupling A0 and fixed values of tan(beta), these limits result in narrow lines of allowed regions in the m0-m1/2 plane, the so called WMAP strips. In this analysis the trilinear coupling A0 has been varied within +/-4 TeV. A fixed non vanishing A0 value leads to a shift of the WMAP strips in the m0-m1/2 plane.
In mSUGRA models the lightest supersymmetric particle (assumed to be the lightest neutralino) provides an excellent cold dark matter (CDM) candidate. The supersymmetric parameter space is significantly reduced, if the limits on the CDM relic density, obtained from WMAP data, are used. Assuming a vanishing trilinear scalar coupling A0 and fixed values of tan(beta), these limits result in narrow lines of allowed regions in the m0-m12 plane, the so called WMAP strips. In this analysis the trilinear coupling A0 has been varied within +/-4TeV resulting in largely extended areas in the m0-m12 plane which are no longer excluded.
We examine homogeneous but anisotropic cosmologies in scalar-tensor gravity theories, including Brans-Dicke gravity. We present a method for deriving solutions for any isotropic perfect fluid with a barotropic equation of state ($pproptorho$) in a spatially flat (Bianchi type~I) cosmology. These models approach an isotropic, general relativistic solution as the expansion becomes dominated by the barotropic fluid. All models that approach general relativity isotropize except for the case of a maximally stiff fluid. For stiff fluid or radiation or in vacuum we are able to give solutions for arbitrary scalar-tensor theories in a number of anisotropic Bianchi and Kantowski-Sachs metrics. We show how this approach can also be used to derive solutions from the low-energy string effective action. We discuss the nature, and possibly avoidance of, the initial singularity where both shear and non-Einstein behavior is important.
The possibility of a connection between dark energy and gravity through a direct coupling in the Lagrangian of the underlying theory has acquired an increasing interest due to the recently discovered capability of the extended quintessence model to encompass the fine-tuning problem of the cosmological constant. The gravity induced R-boost mechanism is indeed responsible for an early, enhanced scalar field dynamics, by virtue of which the residual imprint of a wide set of initial field values is cancelled out. The initial conditions problem is particularly relevant, as the most recent observations indicate that the dark energy equation of state approaches, at the present time, the cosmological constant value, wDE = -1; if confirmed, such observational evidence would cancel the advantage of a standard, minimally coupled scalar field as a Dark Energy candidate instead of the cosmological constant, because of the huge fine tuning it would require. We give here a general classification of the scalar-tensor gravity theories admitting R-boost solutions scaling as a power of the cosmological redshift, outlining those behaving as an attractor for the quintessence field. In particular, we show that all the R-boost solutions with the dark energy density scaling as the relativistic matter or shallower represent attractors. This analysis is exhaustive as for the classification of the couplings which admit R-boost and the subsequent enlargement of the basin of attraction enclosing the initial scalar field values.
Scalar-tensor theories are frequently only consistent with fifth force constraints in the presence of a screening mechanism, namely in order to suppress an otherwise unacceptably large coupling between the scalar and ordinary matter. Here we investigate precisely which subsets of Horndeski theories do not give rise to and/or require such a screening mechanism. We investigate these subsets in detail, deriving their form and discussing how they are restricted upon imposing additional bounds from the speed of gravitational waves, solar system tests and cosmological observables. Finally, we also identify what subsets of scalar-tensor theories precisely recover the predictions of standard (linearised) $Lambdatext{CDM}$ cosmologies in the quasi-static limit.