Modified Saez–Ballester scalar–tensor theory from 5D space-time

Abstract

In this paper, we bring together the five-dimensional Saez–Ballester (SB) scalar–tensor theory (Saez and Ballester 1986 Phys. Lett. 113A 9) and the induced-matter-theory (IMT) setting (Wesson and Ponce de Leon 1992 J. Math. Phys. 33 3883), to obtain a modified SB theory (MSBT) in four dimensions. Specifically, by using an intrinsic dimensional reduction procedure into the SB field equations in five-dimensions, a MSBT is obtained onto a hypersurface orthogonal to the extra dimension. This four-dimensional MSBT is shown to bear distinctive new features in contrast to the usual corresponding SB theory as well as to IMT and the modified Brans–Dicke theory (MBDT) (Rasouli et al 2014 Class. Quantum Grav. 31 115002). In more detail, besides the usual induced matter terms retrieved through the IMT, the MSBT scalar field is provided with additional physically distinct (namely, SB induced) terms as well as an intrinsic self-interacting potential (interpreted as a consequence of the IMT process and the concrete geometry associated with the extra dimension). Moreover, our MSBT has four sets of field equations, with two sets having no analog in the standard SB scalar–tensor theory. It should be emphasized that the herein appealing solutions can emerge solely from the geometrical reductional process, from the presence also of extra dimension(s) and not from any ad-hoc matter either in the bulk or on the hypersurface. Subsequently, we apply the herein MSBT to cosmology and consider an extended spatially flat FLRW geometry in a five-dimensional vacuum space-time. After obtaining the exact solutions in the bulk, we proceed to construct, by means of the MSBT setting, the corresponding dynamic, on the four-dimensional hypersurface. More precisely, we obtain the (SB) components of the induced matter, including the induced scalar potential terms. We retrieve two different classes of solutions. Concerning the first class, we show that the MSBT yields a barotropic equation of state for the induced perfect fluid. We then investigate vacuum, dust, radiation, stiff fluid and false vacuum cosmologies for this scenario and contrast the results with those obtained in the standard SB theory, IMT and BD theory. Regarding the second class solutions, we show that the scale factor behaves in a similar way to a de Sitter (DeS) model. However, in our MSBT setting, this behavior is assisted by non-vanishing induced matter instead, without any a priori cosmological constant. Moreover, for all these solutions, we show that the extra dimension contracts with the cosmic time.