No Arabic abstract
In the context of the recent synchronicity problem in $Lambda$CDM cosmology, coasting models such as the classic Milne model and the $R_h=ct$ model have attracted much attention. Also, a very recent analysis of supernovae Ia data is reported to favour models with constant expansion rates. We point out that the nonempty $R_h=ct$ model has some known antecedents in the literature. Some of these are published even before the discovery of the accelerated expansion and were shown to have none of the cosmological problems and also that $H_0t_0=1$ and $Omega_m/Omega_{dark ; energy}$ = some constant of the order of unity. In this paper, we also derive such a model by a complex extension of scale factor in the Milne model.
We point out that the nonempty $R_h=ct$ cosmological model has some known antecedents in the literature. Some of those eternal coasting models are published even before the discovery of the accelerated expansion of the universe and were shown to have none of the commonly discussed cosmological problems and also that $H_0t_0=1$. The $R_h=ct$ model is only the special (flat) case of the eternal coasting model. An additional feature in the coasting model is that $Omega_m/Omega_{dark ; energy}$ = some constant of the order of unity, so that also the cosmic coincidence problem is avoided.
We consider scenarios where the inflaton field decays dominantly to a hidden dark matter (DM) sector. By studying the typical behavior of the Standard Model (SM) Higgs field during inflation, we derive a relation between the primordial tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and amplitude of the residual DM isocurvature perturbations $beta$ which is typically generated if the DM is thermally decoupled from the SM sector. We consider different expansion histories and find that if the Universe was radiation- or matter-dominated after inflation, a future discovery of primordial DM isocurvature will rule out all simple scenarios of this type because generating observable $beta$ from the Higgs is not possible without violating the bounds on $r$. Seen another way, the Higgs field is generically not a threat to models where both the inflaton and DM reside in a decoupled sector. However, this is not necessarily the case for an early kination-dominated epoch, as then the Higgs can source sizeable $beta$. We also discuss why the Higgs cannot source the observed curvature perturbation at large scales in any of the above cases but how the field can still be the dominant source of curvature perturbations at small scales.
Cosmological models that invoke warm or cold dark matter can not explain observed regularities in the properties of dwarf galaxies, their highly anisotropic spatial distributions, nor the correlation between observed mass discrepancies and acceleration. These problems with the standard model of cosmology have deep implications, in particular in combination with the observation that the data are excellently described by Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND). MOND is a classical dynamics theory which explains the mass discrepancies in galactic systems, and in the universe at large, without invoking dark entities. MOND introduces a new universal constant of nature with the dimensions of acceleration, a0, such that the pre-MONDian dynamics is valid for accelerations a >> a0, and the deep MONDian regime is obtained for a << a0, where space-time scale invariance is invoked. Remaining challenges for MOND are (i) explaining fully the observed mass discrepancies in galaxy clusters, and (ii) the development of a relativistic theory of MOND that will satisfactorily account for cosmology. The universal constant a0 turns out to have an intriguing connection with cosmology: bar a0 == 2 pi a0 approx c H_0 approx c^2(Lambda/3)^{1/2}. This may point to a deep connection between cosmology and internal dynamics of local systems.
In light of the statistical performance of cosmological observations, in this work we present an improvement on the Gaussian reconstruction of the Hubble parameter data $H(z)$ from Cosmic Chronometers, Supernovae Type Ia and Clustering Galaxies in a model-independent way in order to use them to study new constraints in the Horndeski theory of gravity. First, we have found that the prior used to calibrate the Pantheon supernovae data significantly affects the reconstructions, leading to a 13$sigma $ tension on the $H_0$ value. Second, according to the $chi^{2}$-statistics, the reconstruction carried out by the Pantheon data calibrated using the $H_{0} $ value measured by The Carnegie-Chicago Hubble Program is the reconstruction which fits best the observations of Cosmic Chronometers and Clustering of Galaxies datasets. Finally, we use our reconstructions of $H(z)$ to impose model-independent constraints in dark energy scenarios as Quintessence and K-essence from general cosmological viable Horndeski models, landscape in where we found that a Horndeski model of the K-essence type can reproduce the reconstructions of the late expansion of the universe within 2$sigma$.
We show that the Big Bang Observer (BBO), a proposed space-based gravitational-wave (GW) detector, would provide ultra-precise measurements of cosmological parameters. By detecting ~300,000 compact-star binaries, and utilizing them as standard sirens, BBO would determine the Hubble constant to 0.1%, and the dark energy parameters w_0 and w_a to ~0.01 and 0.1,resp. BBOs dark-energy figure-of-merit would be approximately an order of magnitude better than all other proposed dark energy missions. To date, BBO has been designed with the primary goal of searching for gravitational waves from inflation. To observe this inflationary background, BBO would first have to detect and subtract out ~300,000 merging compact-star binaries, out to z~5. It is precisely this foreground which would enable high-precision cosmology. BBO would determine the luminosity distance to each binary to ~percent accuracy. BBOs angular resolution would be sufficient to uniquely identify the host galaxy for most binaries; a coordinated optical/infrared observing campaign could obtain the redshifts. Combining the GW-derived distances and EM-derived redshifts for such a large sample of objects leads to extraordinarily tight constraints on cosmological parameters. Such ``standard siren measurements of cosmology avoid many of the systematic errors associated with other techniques. We also show that BBO would be an exceptionally powerful gravitational lensing mission, and we briefly discuss other astronomical uses of BBO.