Inflation and Dark Energy from a Covariant Elastic Medium
Fuente:
arXiv
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| Natura: | Preprint |
| Pubblicazione: |
2018
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| _version_ | 1866917548378816512 |
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| author | Beau, Mathieu |
| author_facet | Beau, Mathieu |
| contents | In this article, we propose a unified framework for cosmological expansion and inflation at the level of background dynamics, by modeling both the inflaton field and dark energy as a four-dimensional continuous medium, whose elastic deformation is described by a covariant vector field. Focusing on a homogeneous and isotropic background cosmology, we show that for a bulk modulus $K = 1.64 \times 10^{109}~\text{N}\cdot\text{m}^{-2}$, the dark energy density decreases by a factor of $\sim 10^{122}$ while the scale factor expands $10^{28}$ times over $\sim 10^{-42}$ seconds during primordial inflation. For illustrative parameter values, our analysis suggests three potential new physical phenomena for future investigation, including longitudinal elastic modes, frequency redshifts in early-universe light, and improved fits to supernova curves. At the end of the paper, we discuss the challenges of applying the framework to inflationary perturbations, particularly the need for a consistent theory capable of producing a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum, as well as of addressing reheating, and identify these as key directions for future work. |
| format | Preprint |
| id |
arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_1805_03020 |
| institution | arXiv |
| publishDate | 2018 |
| record_format | arxiv |
| spellingShingle | Inflation and Dark Energy from a Covariant Elastic Medium Beau, Mathieu General Physics In this article, we propose a unified framework for cosmological expansion and inflation at the level of background dynamics, by modeling both the inflaton field and dark energy as a four-dimensional continuous medium, whose elastic deformation is described by a covariant vector field. Focusing on a homogeneous and isotropic background cosmology, we show that for a bulk modulus $K = 1.64 \times 10^{109}~\text{N}\cdot\text{m}^{-2}$, the dark energy density decreases by a factor of $\sim 10^{122}$ while the scale factor expands $10^{28}$ times over $\sim 10^{-42}$ seconds during primordial inflation. For illustrative parameter values, our analysis suggests three potential new physical phenomena for future investigation, including longitudinal elastic modes, frequency redshifts in early-universe light, and improved fits to supernova curves. At the end of the paper, we discuss the challenges of applying the framework to inflationary perturbations, particularly the need for a consistent theory capable of producing a nearly scale-invariant power spectrum, as well as of addressing reheating, and identify these as key directions for future work. |
| title | Inflation and Dark Energy from a Covariant Elastic Medium |
| topic | General Physics |
| url | https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.03020 |