No Arabic abstract
This investigation explores using the beta function formalism to calculate analytic solutions for the observable parameters in rolling scalar field cosmologies. The beta function in this case is the derivative of the scalar $phi$ with respect to the natural log of the scale factor $a$, $beta(phi)=frac{d phi}{d ln(a)}$. Once the beta function is specified, modulo a boundary condition, the evolution of the scalar $phi$ as a function of the scale factor is completely determined. A rolling scalar field cosmology is defined by its action which can contain a range of physically motivated dark energy potentials. The beta function is chosen so that the associated beta potential is an accurate, but not exact, representation of the appropriate dark energy model potential. The basic concept is that the action with the beta potential is so similar to the action with the model potential that solutions using the beta action are accurate representations of solutions using the model action. The beta function provides an extra equation to calculate analytic functions of the cosmologies parameters as a function of the scale factor that are that are not calculable using only the model action. As an example this investigation uses a quintessence cosmology to demonstrate the method for power and inverse power law dark energy potentials. An interesting result of the investigation is that the Hubble parameter H is almost completely insensitive to the power of the potentials and that $Lambda$CDM is part of the family of quintessence cosmology power law potentials with a power of zero.
This paper uses the beta function formalism to extend the analysis of quintessence cosmological parameters to the logarithmic and exponential dark energy potentials. The previous paper (Thompson 2018) demonstrated the formalism using power and inverse power potentials. The essentially identical evolution of the Hubble parameter for all of the quintessence cases and LambdaCDM is attributed to the flatness of the quintessence dark energy potentials in the dark energy dominated era. The Hubble parameter is therefore incapable of discriminating between static and dynamic dark energy. Unlike the other three potentials considered in the two papers the logarithmic dark energy potential requires a numerical integration in the formula for the superpotential rather than being an analytic function. The dark energy equation of state and the fundamental constants continue to be good discriminators between static and dynamical dark energy. A new analysis of quintessence with all four of the potentials relative the swampland conjectures indicates that the conjecture on the change in the scalar field is satisfied but that the conjecture on the change of the potential is not.
The observed constraints on the variability of the proton to electron mass ratio $mu$ and the fine structure constant $alpha$ are used to establish constraints on the variability of the Quantum Chromodynamic Scale and a combination of the Higgs Vacuum Expectation Value and the Yukawa couplings. Further model dependent assumptions provide constraints on the Higgs VEV and the Yukawa couplings separately. A primary conclusion is that limits on the variability of dimensionless fundamental constants such as $mu$ and $alpha$ provide important constraints on the parameter space of new physics and cosmologies.
Many cosmological models invoke rolling scalar fields to account for the observed acceleration of the expansion of the universe. These theories generally include a potential V(phi) which is a function of the scalar field phi. Although V(phi) can be represented by a very diverse set of functions, recent work has shown the under some conditions, such as the slow roll conditions, the equation of state parameter w is either independent of the form of V(phi) or is part of family of solutions with only a few parameters. In realistic models of this type the scalar field couples to other sectors of the model leading to possibly observable changes in the fundamental constants such as the fine structure constant alpha and the proton to electron mass ratio mu. This paper explores the limits this puts on the validity of various cosmologies that invoke rolling scalar fields. We find that the limit on the variation of mu puts significant constraints on the product of a cosmological parameter w+1 times a new physics parameter zeta_mu^2, the coupling constant between mu and the rolling scalar field. Even when the cosmologies are restricted to very slow roll conditions either the value of zeta_mu must be at the lower end of or less than its expected values or the value of w+1 must be restricted to values vanishingly close to 0. This implies that either the rolling scalar field is very weakly coupled with the electromagnetic field, small zeta_mu, very weakly coupled with gravity, w+1 ~ 0 or both. These results stress that adherence to the measured invariance in mu is a very significant test of the validity of any proposed cosmology and any new physics it requires. The limits on the variation of mu also produces a significant tension with the reported changes in the value of alpha.
We give two conditionally exactly solvable inverse power law potentials whose linearly independent solutions include a sum of two confluent hypergeometric functions. We notice that they are partner potentials and multiplicative shape invariant. The method used to find the solutions works with the two Schrodinger equations of the partner potentials. Furthermore we study some of the properties of these potentials.
We study dressed inflation with a cuscuton and find a novel exact power-law solution. It is well known that the conventional power-law inflation is inconsistent with the Planck data. In contrast to this standard lore, we find that power-law inflation with a cuscuton can be reconciled with the Planck data. Moreover, we argue that the cuscuton generally ameliorates inflation models so that predictions are consistent with observations.