Primordial black holes and induced gravitational waves from inflation in the Horndeski theory of gravity

We investigate the production of primordial black holes (PBHs) and scalar-induced gravitational waves (GWs) for cosmological models in the Horndeski theory of gravity. The cosmological models of our interest incorporate the derivative self-interaction of the scalar field and the kinetic coupling between the scalar field and gravity. We show that the scalar power spectrum of the primordial fluctuations can be enhanced on small scales due to these additional interactions. Thus, the formation of PBHs and the production of induced GWs are feasible for our model. Parameterizing the scalar power spectrum with a local Gaussian peak, we first estimate the abundance of PBHs and the energy spectrum of GWs produced in the radiation-dominated era. Then, to explain the small-scale enhancement in the power spectrum, we reconstruct the inflaton potential and self-coupling functions from the power spectrum and their spectral tilt. Our results show that the small-scale enhancement in the power spectrum can be explained by the local feature, either a peak or dip, in the self-coupling function rather than the local feature in the inflaton potential.

Observational Constraints on the Cosmology with Holographic Dark Fluid

We consider the holographic Friedman-Robertson-Walker (hFRW) universe on the 4-dimensional membrane embedded in the 5-dimensional bulk spacetime and fit the parameters with the observational data. In order to fully account for the phenomenology of this scenario, we consider the models with the brane cosmological constant and the negative bulk cosmological constant. The contribution from the bulk is represented as the holographic dark fluid on the membrane. We derive the universal modified Friedmann equation by including all of these effects in both braneworld and holographic cutoff approaches. For three specific models, namely, the pure hFRW model, the one with the brane cosmological constant, and the one with the negative bulk cosmological constant, we compare the model predictions with the observations. The parameters in the considered hFRW models are constrained with observational data. In particular, it is shown that the model with the brane cosmological constant can fit data as well as the standard $Lambda$CDM universe. We also find that the $sigma_8$ tension observed in different large-structure experiments can be effectively relaxed in this holographic scenario.

Euclidean wormholes in Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton gravity

We investigate Euclidean wormholes in Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton gravity to explain the creation of the universe from nothing. We considered two types of dilaton couplings (i.e., the string-inspired model and the Gaussian model) and we obtained qualitatively similar results. There can exist Euclidean wormholes that explain the possible origin of our universe, where the dilaton field is located over the barrier of dilaton potential. This solution can exist even if dilaton potential does not satisfy slow-roll conditions. In addition, the probability is higher than that of the Hawking-Moss instanton with the same final condition. Therefore, Euclidean wormholes in Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton gravity are a possible and probable scenario, which explains the origin of our universe.

The viable f(G) gravity models via reconstruction from the observations

We reconstruct the viable f(G) gravity models from the observations and provide the analytic solutions that well describe our numerical results. In order to avoid unphysical challenges that occur during the numerical reconstruction, we generalize f(G) models into f(GA), which is the simple extension of f(G) models with the introduction of a constant A parameter. We employ several observational data together with the stability condition, which reads d2f/dG2 > 0 and must be satisfied in the late-time evolution of the universe, to give proper initial conditions for solving the perturbation equation. As a result, we obtain the analytic functions that match the numerical solutions. Furthermore, it might be interesting if one can find the physical origin of those analytic solutions and its cosmological implications.

Inflation with Derivative Self-interaction and Coupling to Gravity

We consider a subclass of Horndeski theories for studying cosmic inflation. In particular, we investigate models of inflation in which the derivative self-interaction of the scalar field and the non-minimal derivative coupling to gravity are present in the action and equally important during inflation. In order to control contributions of each term as well as to approach the single-term limit, we introduce a special relation between the derivative interaction and the coupling to gravity. By calculating observable quantities including the power spectra and spectral tilts of scalar and tensor perturbation modes, and the tensor-to-scalar ratio, we found that the tensor-to-scalar ratio is suppressed by a factor of $(1+1/gamma)$, where $gamma$ reflects the strength of the derivative self-interaction of the inflaton field with respect to the derivative coupling gravity. We placed observational constraints on the chaotic and natural inflation models and showed that the models are consistent with the current observational data mainly due to the suppressed tensor-to-scalar ratio.

Quantum creation of traversable wormholes ex nihilo in Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton gravity

We investigate a nucleation of a Euclidean wormhole and its analytic continuation to Lorentzian signatures in Gauss-Bonnet-dilaton gravity, where this model can be embedded by the type-II superstring theory. We show that there exists a Euclidean wormhole solution in this model by choosing a suitable shape of the dilaton potential. After the analytic continuation, this explains a quantum creation of a time-like traversable wormhole. Finally, we discuss relations to the information loss problem and the current literature.

Reconstruction of the Scalar Field Potential in Inflationary Models with a Gauss-Bonnet term

We study inflationary models with a Gauss-Bonnet term to reconstruct the scalar field potentials and the Gauss-Bonnet coupling functions from the observable quantities. Using the observationally favored relations for both $n_s$ and $r$, we derive the expressions for both the scalar field potentials and the coupling functions. The implication of the blue-tilted spectrum, $n_t>0$, of the primordial tensor fluctuations is discussed for the reconstructed configurations of the scalar field potential and the Gauss-Bonnet coupling.

Primordial gravitational waves from the space-condensate inflation model

We consider the space-condensate inflation model to study the primordial gravitational waves generated in the early Universe. We calculate the energy spectrum of gravitational waves induced by the space-condensate inflation model for full frequency range with assumption that the phase transition between two consecutive regimes to be abrupt during evolution of the Universe. The suppression of energy spectrum is found in our model for the decreasing frequency of gravitational waves depending on the model parameter. To realize the suppression of energy spectrum of the primordial gravitational waves, we study an existence of the early phase transition during inflation for the space-condensate inflation model.

Observational constraints on inflation with the nonlinear sigma fields in light of Plank 2015

We study an inflation model with a nonlinear sigma field which has $SO(3)$ symmetry. The background solution of the nonlinear sigma field is proportional to the space coordinates linearly while keeping the homogeneous and isotropic background spacetime. We calculate the observable quantities including the power spectra of the scalar and tensor modes, the spectral indices, the tensor-to-scalar ratio, and the running of the spectral indices, and then constrain our model with the Planck 2015 observational data.