Dynamics Of Scalar Field Research Articles

Avoiding unrealistic priors: The case of dark energy constraints from the time variation of the fine-structure constant

We critically assess recent claims suggesting that upper limits on the time variation of the fine-structure constant tightly constrain the coupling of a dark energy scalar field to the electromagnetic sector, and, indirectly, the violation of the weak equivalence principle. We show that such constraints depend crucially on the assumed priors, even if the dark energy was described by a dynamical scalar field with a constant equation of state parameter $w$ linearly coupled to the electromagnetic sector through a dimensionless coupling $\zeta$. We find that, although local atomic clock tests, as well as other terrestrial, astrophysical and cosmological data, put stringent bounds on $|\zeta| {\sqrt {|w+1|}}$, the time variation of the fine-structure constant cannot be used to set or to improve upper limits on $|\zeta|$ or $|w+1|$ without specifying priors, consistent but not favoured by current data, which strongly disfavour low values of $|w+1|$ or $|\zeta|$, respectively. We briefly discuss how this might change with a new generation of high-resolution ultra-stable spectrographs, such as ESPRESSO and ELT-HIRES, in combination with forthcoming missions to map the geometry of the Universe, such as Euclid, or to test the equivalence principle, such as MICROSCOPE or STEP.

Cosmological dynamics of scalar fields with kinetic corrections: Beyond the exponential potential

We expand the dynamical systems investigation of cosmological scalar fields characterised by kinetic corrections presented in [N. Tamanini, Phys. Rev. D 89 (2014) 083521]. In particular we do not restrict the analysis to exponential potentials only, but we consider arbitrary scalar field potentials and derive general results regarding the corresponding cosmological dynamics. Two specific potentials are then used as examples to show how these models can be employed not only to describe dark energy, but also to achieve dynamical crossing of the phantom barrier at late times. Stability and viability issues at the classical level are also discussed.

Holographic de Sitter Geometry from Entanglement in Conformal Field Theory.

We demonstrate that, for general conformal field theories (CFTs), the entanglement for small perturbations of the vacuum is organized in a novel holographic way. For spherical entangling regions in a constant time slice, perturbations in the entanglement entropy are solutions of a Klein-Gordon equation in an auxiliary de Sitter (dS) spacetime. The role of the emergent timelike direction in dS spacetime is played by the size of the entangling sphere. For CFTs with extra conserved charges, e.g., higher-spin charges, we show that each charge gives rise to a separate dynamical scalar field in dS spacetime.

Curvature perturbation and domain wall formation with pseudo scaling scalar dynamics

Cosmological dynamics of scalar field with a monomial potential ϕn with a general background equation of state is revisited. It is known that if n is smaller than a critical value, the scalar field exhibits a coherent oscillation and if n is larger it obeys a scaling solution without oscillation. We study in detail the case where n is equal to the critical value, and find a peculiar scalar dynamics which is neither oscillating nor scaling solution, and we call it a pseudo scaling solution. We also discuss cosmological implications of a pseudo scaling scalar dynamics, such as the curvature perturbation and the domain wall problem.

Unified dark energy and dust dark matter dual to quadratic purely kinetic K-essence

We consider a modified gravity plus single scalar-field model, where the scalar Lagrangian couples symmetrically both to the standard Riemannian volume-form (spacetime integration measure density) given by the square root of the determinant of the Riemannian metric, as well as to another non-Riemannian volume-form in terms of an auxiliary maximal-rank antisymmetric tensor gauge field. As shown in a previous paper, the pertinent scalar-field dynamics provides an exact unified description of both dark energy via dynamical generation of a cosmological constant, and dark matter as a “dust” fluid with geodesic flow as a result of a hidden Noether symmetry. Here we extend the discussion by considering a non-trivial modification of the purely gravitational action in the form of $$f(R) = R - \alpha R^2$$ generalized gravity. Upon deriving the corresponding “Einstein-frame” effective action of the latter modified gravity-scalar-field theory we find explicit duality (in the sense of weak versus strong coupling) between the original model of unified dynamical dark energy and dust fluid dark matter, on one hand, and a specific quadratic purely kinetic “k-essence” gravity–matter model with special dependence of its coupling constants on only two independent parameters, on the other hand. The canonical Hamiltonian treatment and Wheeler–DeWitt quantization of the dual purely kinetic “k-essence” gravity–matter model is also briefly discussed.

Inflationary back-reaction effects from Relativistic Quantum Geometry

Abstract We study the dynamics of scalar metric fluctuations in a non-perturbative variational formalism recently introduced, by which the dynamics of a geometrical scalar field θ , describes the quantum geometrical effects on a Weylian-like manifold with respect to a background Riemannian space–time. In this letter we have examined an example in the framework of inflationary cosmology. The resulting spectral predictions are in very good agreement with observations and other models of inflation.

Scalar field correlator in de Sitter space at next-to-leading order in a1/Nexpansion

We study the dynamics of light quantum scalar fields in de Sitter space on superhorizon scales. We compute the self-energy of an O(N) symmetric theory at next-to-leading order in a 1/N expansion in the regime of superhorizon momenta, and we obtain an exact analytical solution of the corresponding Dyson-Schwinger equations for the two-point correlator. This amounts to resumming the infinite series of nonlocal self-energy insertions, which typically generate spurious infrared and/or secular divergences. The potentially large de Sitter logarithms resum into well-behaved power laws from which we extract the field strength and mass renormalization. The nonperturbative 1/N expansion allows us to discuss the case of vanishing and negative tree-level square mass, which both correspond to strongly coupled effective theories in the infrared.

Robot navigation for monitoring unsteady environmental boundaries without field gradient estimation

A non-holonomic Dubins-car like robot should detect, locate, and track the boundary of an a priori unknown dynamic environmental scalar field. The field is measured by an on-board sensor in a point-wise fashion at the robot’s location. The focus is on unsteady boundaries that arbitrarily evolve over time, and, e.g., may change shapes and sizes. We present a sliding mode control method for localizing and tracking such boundaries: the robot is steered to the boundary and circulates in its close proximity afterwards. The proposed control algorithm does not require estimation of the spatial gradient of the field and is non-demanding with respect to both computation and motion. Its mathematically rigorous justification is provided. The effectiveness of the proposed guidance law is confirmed by computer simulations and experiments with a real wheeled robot.

Generalized Ghost Pilgrim Scalar Field Models of Dark Energy

We assume generalized ghost Pilgrim dark energy (GGPDE) model in the presence of cold dark matter in flat FRW universe. With suitable choice of interaction term between GGPDE and cold dark matter, we investigate the nature of equation of state parameter for GGPDE. Also, we investigate the natures of dynamical scalar field models (such as quintessence, tachyon, k-essence, and dilaton dark energy) and concerned potentials through the correspondence phenomenon between GGPDE and these models.

Quantum corrections to inflaton dynamics: The semiclassical approach and the semiclassical limit

Computations of quantum corrections to the CMB spectrum and to scalar field dynamics during inflation very often take advantage of the "semi-classical" approach, where the metric fluctuations are simply omitted. On the other hand, a complete computation ought to take into account that the matter field perturbation and scalar metric perturbation together constitute a single physical degree of freedom. The question then naturally arises, in which sense the semi-classical approach is an approximation to the complete calculation, and whether there are specific limits where this is also a good approximation. We consider the quantum corrected dynamics of interacting scalar fields in an expanding inflationary background. We demonstrate this by explicitly computing the leading quantum radiative corrections to the evolution equation of the mean field ("condensate") and the Friedmann equations taking into account scalar perturbations of both the matter field and the metric, and when omitting the latter. We find that the two agree in the limit H << M_pl , but one is not a limit of the other. We also find that in simple models of inflation, H/M_pl is not small enough that the two approaches can be said to agree. By direct comparison, we demonstrate how to interpret the "semi-classical" approach often employed in more complex computations as a well-defined approximation, and quantify its validity.

Dynamics of a charged scalar field thin shell

This paper deals with the motion of a charged spherically symmetric thin shell composed of a scalar field. The equations of motion resulting from the matching conditions of the two surrounding spacetimes which are described by the Reissner-Nordstrom metric are derived. Calculations are carried out for the case of a massless scalar field with zero scalar field potential as well as the case of a massive scalar field.

Quantum unitary dynamics in cosmological spacetimes

We address the question of unitary implementation of the dynamics for scalar fields in cosmological scenarios. Together with invariance under spatial isometries, the requirement of a unitary evolution singles out a rescaling of the scalar field and a unitary equivalence class of Fock representations for the associated canonical commutation relations. Moreover, this criterion provides as well a privileged quantization for the unscaled field, even though the associated dynamics is not unitarily implementable in that case. We discuss the relation between the initial data that determine the Fock representations in the rescaled and unscaled descriptions, and clarify that the S-matrix is well defined in both cases. In our discussion, we also comment on a recently proposed generalized notion of unitary implementation of the dynamics, making clear the difference with the standard unitarity criterion and showing that the two approaches are not equivalent.

Cosmological evolution of modified QCD ghost dark energy in dynamical Chern-Simons gravity

In this paper, we discuss the dark energy phenomenon by considering the modified QCD ghost dark energy in the framework of dynamical Chern-Simons modified gravity. We find analytical solution of scale factor and explore different cosmological parameters in this scenario. We observe that the deceleration parameter characterizes different phases of the universe under certain conditions of constant parameters. It is pointed out that equation of state parameter as well as cosmological planes ( $\omega_{D}\mbox{--}\omega'_{D}$ and $r\mbox{--}s$ ) provides the consistent results with the present day observations. Also, the squared speed of sound predicts the stability of the present dark energy model for all the time. We also discuss the dynamics of scalar field and potentials of various scalar field models and found interesting results in this framework.

Inflation in $$f(R,\phi )$$ f ( R , ϕ ) -theories and mimetic gravity scenario

We investigate inflation within $f(R,\phi)$-theories, where a dynamical scalar field is coupled to gravity. A class of models which can support early-time acceleration with the emerging of an effective cosmological constant at high curvature is studied. The dynamics of the field allow for exit from inflation leading to the correct amount of inflation in agreement with cosmological data. Furthermore, the spectral index and tensor-to-scalar ratio of the models are carefully analyzed. A generalization of the theory to incorporate dark matter in the context of mimetic gravity, and further extensions of the latter, are also discussed.

Модели с нетривиальной кинетической частью в контексте точных решений уравнений динамики скалярного поля

Модели с нетривиальной кинетической частью в контексте точных решений уравнений динамики скалярного поля

Efficient, Decentralized Detection of Qualitative Spatial Events in a Dynamic Scalar Field.

This paper describes an efficient, decentralized algorithm to monitor qualitative spatial events in a dynamic scalar field. The events of interest involve changes to the critical points (i.e., peak, pits and passes) and edges of the surface network derived from the field. Four fundamental types of event (appearance, disappearance, movement and switch) are defined. Our algorithm is designed to rely purely on qualitative information about the neighborhoods of nodes in the sensor network and does not require information about nodes’ coordinate positions. Experimental investigations confirm that our algorithm is efficient, with overall communication complexity (where n is the number of nodes in the sensor network), an even load balance and low operational latency. The accuracy of event detection is comparable to established centralized algorithms for the identification of critical points of a surface network. Our algorithm is relevant to a broad range of environmental monitoring applications of sensor networks.

Semi-analytic galaxy formation in coupled dark energy cosmologies

Among the possible alternatives to the standard cosmological model ($\Lambda$CDM), coupled Dark Energy models postulate that Dark Energy (DE), seen as a dynamical scalar field, may interact with Dark Matter (DM), giving rise to a "fifth-force", felt by DM particles only. In this paper, we study the impact of these cosmologies on the statistical properties of galaxy populations by combining high-resolution numerical simulations with semi-analytic models (SAM) of galaxy formation and evolution. New features have been implemented in the reference SAM in order to have it run self-consistently and calibrated on these cosmological simulations. They include an appropriate modification of the mass temperature relation and of the baryon fraction in DM haloes, due to the different virial scalings and to the gravitational bias, respectively. Our results show that the predictions of our coupled-DE SAM do not differ significantly from theoretical predictions obtained with standard SAMs applied to a reference $\Lambda$CDM simulation, implying that the statistical properties of galaxies provide only a weak probe for these alternative cosmological models. On the other hand, we show that both galaxy bias and the galaxy pairwise velocity distribution are sensitive to coupled DE models: this implies that these probes might be successfully applied to disentangle among quintessence, $f(R)$-Gravity and coupled DE models.

Cosmology with non-minimal coupled gravity: inflation and perturbation analysis

We study a scalar-tensor cosmological model where the Einstein tensor is non-minimally coupled to the free scalar-field dynamics. Using the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker metric, we investigate the behavior of the scale factor for vacuum, matter, and dark energy-dominated eras. In particular, we focus on the inflationary behavior of the early Universe. Moreover, we study the perturbation analysis of this model in order to confront the inflation under consideration with observational results.

Inflation in a conformally invariant two-scalar-field theory with an extra $$R^2$$ R 2 term

We explore inflationary cosmology in a theory where there are two scalar fields which non-minimally couple to the Ricci scalar and an additional \(R^2\) term, which breaks the conformal invariance. Particularly, we investigate the slow-roll inflation in the case of one dynamical scalar field and that of two dynamical scalar fields. It is explicitly demonstrated that the spectral index of the scalar mode of the density perturbations and the tensor-to-scalar ratio can be consistent with the observations obtaind by the recent Planck satellite. The graceful exit from the inflationary stage is achieved as in convenient \(R^2\) gravity. We also propose the generalization of the model under discussion with three scalar fields.

Interacting new agegraphic version of pilgrim dark energy

We discuss the cosmological evolution of the interacting pilgrim dark energy (DE) with conformal age of the universe in flat FRW universe. We evaluate the equation of state (EoS) parameter for three different values of interacting parameter which evolutes the universe from matter dominated to phantom-like eras by evolving quintessence as well as vacuum DE eras. We also give the correspondence of the present DE model with quintessence, tachyon, k-essence, dilaton and DBI-essence scalar field models. We discuss the dynamics of scalar field and corresponding potentials. We find that the behavior of scalar field, corresponding potentials and kinetic energy terms (in k-essence and dilaton field) consistent with the present day observations. Also, cosmological planes such as [Formula: see text] and r - s planes corresponds to ΛCDM limit.