No Arabic abstract
In a recent work, we had constructed a model consisting of two fields---a canonical scalar field and a non-canonical ghost field---that had sourced a symmetric matter bounce scenario. The model had involved only one parameter, viz. the scale associated with the bounce. For a suitable value of the parameter, the model had led to strictly scale invariant power spectra with a COBE normalized scalar amplitude and a rather small tensor-to-scalar ratio. In this work, we extend the model to achieve near-matter bounces, which contain a second parameter apart from the bounce scale. As the new model does not seem to permit analytical evaluation of the scalar modes near the bounce, with the aid of techniques which we had used in our earlier work, we compute the scalar and the tensor power spectra numerically. For appropriate values of the additional parameter, we find that the model produces red spectra with a scalar spectral tilt and a small tensor-to-scalar ratio which are consistent with the recent observations of the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background by Planck.
Matter bounces refer to scenarios wherein the universe contracts at early times as in a matter dominated epoch until the scale factor reaches a minimum, after which it starts expanding. While such scenarios are known to lead to scale invariant spectra of primordial perturbations after the bounce, the challenge has been to construct completely symmetric bounces that lead to a tensor-to-scalar ratio which is small enough to be consistent with the recent cosmological data. In this work, we construct a model involving two scalar fields (a canonical field and a non-canonical ghost field) to drive the symmetric matter bounce and study the evolution of the scalar perturbations in the model. If we consider the scale associated with the bounce to be of the order of the Planck scale, the model is completely described in terms of only one parameter, viz the value of the scale factor at the bounce. We evolve the scalar perturbations numerically across the bounce and evaluate the scalar power spectra after the bounce. We show that, while the scalar and tensor perturbation spectra are scale invariant over scales of cosmological interest, the tensor-to-scalar ratio proves to be much smaller than the current upper bound from the observations of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies by the Planck mission. We also support our numerical analysis with analytical arguments.
We investigate whether there are any cosmological evidences for a scalar field with a mass and coupling to matter which change accordingly to the properties of the astrophysical system it lives in, without directly focusing on the underlying mechanism that drives the scalar field scale-dependent properties. We assume a Yukawa type of coupling between the field and matter and also that the scalar field mass grows with density, in order to overcome all gravity constraints within the solar system. We analyse three different gravitational systems assumed as cosmological indicators: supernovae type Ia, low surface brightness spiral galaxies and clusters of galaxies. Results show that: a) a quite good fit to the rotation curves of low surface brightness galaxies only using visible stellar and gas mass components is obtained; b) a scalar field can fairly well reproduce the matter profile in clusters of galaxies, estimated by X-ray observations and without the need of any additional dark matter; c) there is an intrinsic difficulty in extracting information about the possibility of a scale-dependent massive scalar field (or more generally about a varying gravitational constant) from supernovae type Ia.
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.
We take a pragmatic, model independent approach to single field slow-roll canonical inflation by imposing conditions, not on the potential, but on the slow-roll parameter $epsilon(phi)$ and its derivatives $epsilon^{prime }(phi)$ and $epsilon^{primeprime }(phi)$, thereby extracting general conditions on the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ and the running $n_{sk}$ at $phi_{H}$ where the perturbations are produced, some $50$ $-$ $60$ $e$-folds before the end of inflation. We find quite generally that for models where $epsilon(phi)$ develops a maximum, a relatively large $r$ is most likely accompanied by a positive running while a negligible tensor-to-scalar ratio implies negative running. The definitive answer, however, is given in terms of the slow-roll parameter $xi_2(phi)$. To accommodate a large tensor-to-scalar ratio that meets the limiting values allowed by the Planck data, we study a non-monotonic $epsilon(phi)$ decreasing during most part of inflation. Since at $phi_{H}$ the slow-roll parameter $epsilon(phi)$ is increasing, we thus require that $epsilon(phi)$ develops a maximum for $phi > phi_{H}$ after which $epsilon(phi)$ decrease to small values where most $e$-folds are produced. The end of inflation might occur trough a hybrid mechanism and a small field excursion $Deltaphi_eequiv |phi_H-phi_e |$ is obtained with a sufficiently thin profile for $epsilon(phi)$ which, however, should not conflict with the second slow-roll parameter $eta(phi)$. As a consequence of this analysis we find bounds for $Delta phi_e$, $r_H$ and for the scalar spectral index $n_{sH}$. Finally we provide examples where these considerations are explicitly realised.
We investigate the inflationary consequences of the oscillating dark energy model proposed by Tian [href{https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.101.063531}{Phys. Rev. D {bf 101}, 063531 (2020)}], which aims to solve the cosmological coincidence problem with multi-accelerating Universe (MAU). We point out that the inflationary dynamics belong to slow-roll inflation. The spectral index of scalar perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio $r$ are shown to be consistent with current textit{Planck} measurements. Especially, this model predicts $rsim10^{-7}$, which is far below the observation limits. This result motivates us to explore the smallness of $r$ in the general MAU. We propose a quintessential generalization of the original model and prove $r<0.01$ in general. The null detection to date of primordial gravitational waves provides a circumstantial evidence for the MAU. After the end of inflation, the scalar field rolls toward infinity instead of a local minimum, and meanwhile its equation of state is oscillating with an average value larger than $1/3$. In this framework, we show that gravitational particle creation at the end of inflation is capable of reheating the Universe.