No Arabic abstract
In an expanding universe the vacuum energy density rho_{Lambda} is expected to be a dynamical quantity. In quantum field theory in curved space-time rho_{Lambda} should exhibit a slow evolution, determined by the expansion rate of the universe H. Recent measurements on the time variation of the fine structure constant and of the proton-electron mass ratio suggest that basic quantities of the Standard Model, such as the QCD scale parameter Lambda_{QCD}, may not be conserved in the course of the cosmological evolution. The masses of the nucleons m_N and of the atomic nuclei would also be affected. Matter is not conserved in such a universe. These measurements can be interpreted as a leakage of matter into vacuum or vice versa. We point out that the amount of leakage necessary to explain the measured value of dot{m}_N/m_N could be of the same order of magnitude as the observationally allowed value of dot{rho}_{Lambda}/rho_{Lambda}, with a possible contribution from the dark matter particles. The dark energy in our universe could be the dynamical vacuum energy in interaction with ordinary baryonic matter as well as with dark matter.
In previous works we have derived a Running Vacuum Model (RVM) for a string Universe, which provides an effective description of the evolution of 4-dimensional string-inspired cosmologies from inflation till the present epoch. In the context of this stringy RVM version, it is assumed that the early Universe is characterised by purely gravitational degrees of freedom, from the massless gravitational string multiplet, including the antisymmetric tensor field. The latter plays an important role, since its dual gives rise to a `stiff gravitational-axion matter, which in turn couples to the gravitational anomaly terms, assumed to be non-trivial at early epochs. In the presence of primordial gravitational wave (GW) perturbations, such anomalous couplings lead to an RVM-like dynamical inflation, without external inflatons. We review here this framework and discuss potential scenarios for the generation of such primordial GW, among which the formation of unstable domain walls, which eventually collapse in a non-spherical-symmetric manner, giving rise to GW. We also remark that the same type of stiff axionic matter could provide, upon the generation of appropriate potentials during the post-inflationary eras, (part of) the Dark Matter (DM) in the Universe, which could well be ultralight, depending on the parameters of the string-inspired model. All in all, the new (stringy) mechanism for RVM-inflation preserves the basic structure of the original (and more phenomenological) RVM, as well as its main advantages: namely, a mechanism for graceful exit and for generating a huge amount of entropy capable of explaining the horizon problem. It also predicts axionic DM and the existence of mild dynamical Dark Energy (DE) of quintessence type in the present universe, both being living fossils of the inflationary stages of the cosmic evolution.
We study a model of the emergent dark universe, which lives on the time-like hypersurface in a five-dimensional bulk spacetime. The holographic fluid on the hypersurface is assumed to play the role of the dark sector, mainly including the dark energy and apparent dark matter. Based on the modified Friedmann equations, we present a Markov-Chain-Monte-Carlo analysis with the observational data, including type Ia Supernova and the direct measurement of the Hubble constant. We obtain a good fitting result and the matter component turns out to be small enough, which matches well with our theoretical assumption that only the normal matter is required. After considering the fitting parameters, an effective potential of the model with a dynamical scalar field is reconstructed. The parameters in the swampland criteria are extracted, and they satisfy the criteria at the present epoch but are in tension with the criteria if the potential is extended to the future direction. The method to reconstruct the potential is helpful to study the swampland criteria of other models without an explicit scalar field.
The cosmological evolution can modify the dark matter (DM) properties in the early Universe to be vastly different from the properties today. Therefore, the relation between the relic abundance and the DM constraints today needs to be revisited. We propose novel textit{transient} annihilations of DM which helps to alleviate the pressure from DM null detection results. As a concrete example, we consider the vector portal DM and focus on the mass evolution of the dark photon. When the Universe cools down, the gauge boson mass can increase monotonically and go across several important thresholds; opening new transient annihilation channels in the early Universe. Those channels are either forbidden or weakened at the late Universe which helps to evade the indirect searches. In particular, the transient resonant channel can survive direct detection (DD) without tuning the DM to be half of the dark photon mass and can be soon tested by future DD or collider experiments. A feature of the scenario is the existence of a light dark scalar.
We discuss the possibility of producing a light dark photon dark matter through a coupling between the dark photon field and the inflaton. The dark photon with a large wavelength is efficiently produced due to the inflaton motion during inflation and becomes non-relativistic before the time of matter-radiation equality. We compute the amount of production analytically. The correct relic abundance is realized with a dark photon mass extending down to $10^{-21} , rm eV$.
We present a unified model where the same scalar field can drive inflation and account for the present dark matter abundance. This scenario is based on the incomplete decay of the inflaton field into right-handed neutrino pairs, which is accomplished by imposing a discrete interchange symmetry on the inflaton and on two of the right-handed neutrinos. We show that this can lead to a successful reheating of the Universe after inflation, while leaving a stable inflaton remnant at late times. This remnant may be in the form of WIMP-like inflaton particles or of an oscillating inflaton condensate, depending on whether or not the latter evaporates and reaches thermal equilibrium with the cosmic plasma. We further show that this scenario is compatible with generating light neutrino masses and mixings through the seesaw mechanism, predicting at least one massless neutrino, and also the observed baryon asymmetry via thermal leptogenesis.