No Arabic abstract
In this article we investigate the properties of the FLRW flat cosmological models in which the cosmic expansion of the Universe is affected by a dilaton dark energy (Liouville scenario). In particular, we perform a detailed study of these models in the light of the latest cosmological data, which serves to illustrate the phenomenological viability of the new dark energy paradigm as a serious alternative to the traditional scalar field approaches. By performing a joint likelihood analysis of the recent supernovae type Ia data (SNIa), the differential ages of passively evolving galaxies, and the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations (BAOs) traced by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), we put tight constraints on the main cosmological parameters. Furthermore, we study the linear matter fluctuation field of the above Liouville cosmological models. In this framework, we compare the observed growth rate of clustering measured with those predicted by the current Liouville models. Performing a chi^2 statistical test we show that the Liouville cosmological model provides growth rates that match sufficiently well with the observed growth rate. To further test the viability of the models under study, we use the Press-Schechter formalism to derive their expected redshift distribution of cluster-size halos that will be provided by future X-ray and Sunyaev-Zeldovich cluster surveys. We find that the Hubble flow differences between the Liouville and the LambdaCDM models provide a significantly different halo redshift distribution, suggesting that the models can be observationally distinguished.
The Universe is mostly composed of large and relatively empty domains known as cosmic voids, whereas its matter content is predominantly distributed along their boundaries. The remaining material inside them, either dark or luminous matter, is attracted to these boundaries and causes voids to expand faster and to grow emptier over time. Using the distribution of galaxies centered on voids identified in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and adopting minimal assumptions on the statistical motion of these galaxies, we constrain the average matter content $Omega_mathrm{m}=0.281pm0.031$ in the Universe today, as well as the linear growth rate of structure $f/b=0.417pm0.089$ at median redshift $bar{z}=0.57$, where $b$ is the galaxy bias ($68%$ C.L.). These values originate from a percent-level measurement of the anisotropic distortion in the void-galaxy cross-correlation function, $varepsilon = 1.003pm0.012$, and are robust to consistency tests with bootstraps of the data and simulated mock catalogs within an additional systematic uncertainty of half that size. They surpass (and are complementary to) existing constraints by unlocking cosmological information on smaller scales through an accurate model of nonlinear clustering and dynamics in void environments. As such, our analysis furnishes a powerful probe of deviations from Einsteins general relativity in the low-density regime which has largely remained untested so far. We find no evidence for such deviations in the data at hand.
Cosmological constraints on the scalar-tensor theory of gravity by analyzing the angular power spectrum data of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) obtained from the Planck 2015 results are presented. We consider the harmonic attractor model, in which the scalar field has a harmonic potential with curvature ($beta$) in the Einstein frame and the theory relaxes toward the Einstein gravity with time. Analyzing the {it TT}, {it EE}, {it TE} and lensing CMB data from Planck by the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we find that the present-day deviation from the Einstein gravity (${alpha_0}^2$) is constrained as ${alpha_0}^2<2.5times10^{-4-4.5beta^2} (95.45% {rm C.L.})$ and ${alpha_0}^2<6.3times10^{-4-4.5beta^2} (99.99% {rm C.L.})$ for $0<beta<0.4$. The time variation of the effective gravitational constant between the recombination and the present epochs is constrained as $G_{rm rec}/G_0<1.0056 (95.45% {rm C.L.})$ and $G_{rm rec}/G_0<1.0115 (99.99 %{rm C.L.})$. We also find that the constraints are little affected by extending to nonflat cosmological models because the diffusion damping effect revealed by Planck breaks the degeneracy of the projection effect.
We perform a combined perturbation and observational investigation of the scenario of non-minimal derivative coupling between a scalar field and curvature. First we extract the necessary condition that ensures the absence of instabilities, which is fulfilled more sufficiently for smaller coupling values. Then using Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa), Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations, we show that, contrary to its significant effects on inflation, the non-minimal derivative coupling term has a negligible effect on the universe acceleration, since it is driven solely by the usual scalar-field potential. Therefore, the scenario can provide a unified picture of early and late time cosmology, with the non-minimal derivative coupling term responsible for inflation, and the usual potential responsible for late-time acceleration. Additionally, the fact that the necessary coupling term does not need to be large, improves the model behavior against instabilities.
It is well known that string theories naturally compactify on anti-de Sitter spaces, and yet cosmological observations show no evidence of a negative cosmological constant in the early Universes evolution. In this letter we present two simple nonlocal modifications of the standard Friedmann cosmology that can lead to observationally viable cosmologies with an initial (negative) cosmological constant. The nonlocal operators we include are toy models for the quantum cosmological backreaction. In Model I an initial quasiperiodic oscillatory epoch is followed by inflation and a late time matter era, representing a dark matter candidate. The backreaction in Model II quickly compensates the negative cosmological term such that the Ricci curvature scalar rapidly approaches zero, and the Universe ends up in a late time radiation era.
By making use of a class of steep exponential type of potentials, which has been recently used to describe quintessential inflation, we show how a unified picture for both inflation, dark energy and dark matter can emerge entirely through dissipative effects. Dissipation provides a way for extending the applicability of a larger class of these potentials in the sense of leading to a consistent early Universe inflationary picture and producing observables in agreement with the Planck legacy data. Likewise, dissipative effects lead to dark matter production with consistent abundances and, towards the recent time of the Universe, drives the potential energy of the scalar quintessential field to dominate again, essentially mimicking a cosmological constant by today, with all cosmological parameters consistent with the observations. Both early and late Universes are connected and with no kination period in between.