Planck's Orders of Magnitude and the Limits of the Quantum Gravity Conception

Considering gravitational Euler scattering and energy fluctuations of gravitational Planck radiation it is shown that - due to the nonlinearity of Einstein's equations - there arise effective cut-of lengths preventing the measurability of quantum vacuum effects near Planck's length.     

Limiting energy density and a regular accelerating universe in Riemann-Cartan spacetime

Isotropic cosmology built in the Riemann-Cartan spacetime by using sufficiently general expression of gravitational Lagrangian is investigated. It is shown that cosmological equations obtained by certain restrictions on indefinite parameters of gravitational Lagrangian lead to limiting energy density at the beginning of cosmological expansion and all cosmological models filled with usual gravitating matter satisfying standard energy conditions are regular with respect to energy density, spacetime metrics with its time derivative and torsion functions. At asymptotics cosmological solutions of spatially flat models coincide with that of standard ΛCDM-model for accelerating Universe.     

Loop quantum cosmology with a non-commutative quantum deformed photon gas

The non-commutativity of the space-time had important implications for the very early Universe, when its size was of the order of the Planck length. An important implication of this effect is the deformation of the standard dispersion relation of special relativity. Moreover, in the Planck regime gravity itself must be described by a quantum theory. We consider the implications of the modified dispersion relations for a photon gas, filling the early Universe, in the framework of loop quantum cosmology, a theoretical approach to quantum gravity. We consider three types of deformations of the dispersion relations of the photon gas, from which we obtain the Planck scale corrections to the energy density and pressure. The cosmological implications of the modified equations of state are explored in detail for all radiation models in the framework of the modified Friedmann equation of loop quantum cosmology. By numerically integrating the evolution equations we investigate the evolution of the basic cosmological parameters (scale factor, Hubble function, radiation temperature, and deceleration parameter) for a deformed photon gas filled Universe. In all models the evolution of the Universe shows the presence of a (nonsingular) bounce, corresponding to the transition from a contracting to an expanding phase.     

Holography, UV/IR Relation, Causal Entropy Bound, and Dark Energy

The constraint on the total energy in a given spatial region is given from holography by the mass of a black hole that just fits in that region, which leads to an UV/IR relation： the maximal energy density in that region is proportional to Mp^2/L^2, where Mp is the Planck mass and L is the spatial scale of that region under consideration. Assuming the maximal black hole in the universe is formed through gravitational collapse of perturbations in the universe, then the ＂Jeans＂ scale of the perturbations gives a causal connection scale RCC. For gravitational perturbations, RCC^-2= Max （H＋ 2H^2, -H） for a fiat universe. We study the cosmological dynamics of the corresponding vacuum energy density by choosing the causal connection scale as the IR cutoff in the UV/IR relation, in the cases of the vacuum energy density as an independently conserved energy component and an effective dynamical cosmological constant, respectively. It turns out that only the case with the choice RCC^-2 = H＋ 2H^2, could be consistent with the current cosmological observations when the vacuum density appears as an independently conserved energy component. In this case, the model is called holographic Ricci scalar dark energy model in the literature.     

Inflation and late-time acceleration in braneworld cosmological models with varying brane tension

Braneworld models with variable brane tension λ introduce a new degree of freedom that allows for evolving gravitational and cosmological constants, the latter being a natural candidate for dark energy. We consider a thermodynamic interpretation of the varying brane tension models, by showing that the field equations with variable λ can be interpreted as describing matter creation in a cosmological framework. The particle creation rate is determined by the variation rate of the brane tension, as well as by the brane–bulk energy-matter transfer rate. We investigate the effect of a variable brane tension on the cosmological evolution of the Universe, in the framework of a particular model in which the brane tension is an exponentially dependent function of the scale factor. The resulting cosmology shows the presence of an initial inflationary expansion, followed by a decelerating phase, and by a smooth transition towards a late accelerated de Sitter type expansion. The varying brane tension is also responsible for the generation of the matter in the Universe (reheating period). The physical constraints on the model parameters, resulting from the observational cosmological data, are also investigated.     

Physics of Dark Energy Particles

We consider the astrophysical and cosmological implications of the existence of a minimum density and mass due to the presence of the cosmological constant. If there is a minimum length in nature, then there is an absolute minimum mass corresponding to a hypothetical particle with radius of the order of the Planck length. On the other hand, quantum mechanical considerations suggest a different minimum mass. These particles associated with the dark energy can be interpreted as the “quanta” of the cosmological constant. We study the possibility that these particles can form stable stellar-type configurations through gravitational condensation, and their Jeans and Chandrasekhar masses are estimated. From the requirement of the energetic stability of the minimum density configuration on a macroscopic scale one obtains a mass of the order of 10⁵⁵ g, of the same order of magnitude as the mass of the universe. This mass can also be interpreted as the Jeans mass of the dark energy fluid. Furthermore we present a representation of the cosmological constant and of the total mass of the universe in terms of ‘classical’ fundamental constants.     

On Dark Energy,Weyl’s Geometry,Different Derivations of the Vacuum Energy Density and the Pioneer Anomaly

Two different derivations of the observed vacuum energy density are presented. One is based on a class of proper and novel generalizations of the (Anti) de Sitter solutions in terms of a family of radial functions R(r) that provides an explicit formula for the cosmological constant along with a natural explanation of the ultraviolet/infrared (UV/IR) entanglement required to solve this problem. A nonvanishing value of the vacuum energy density of the order of is derived in agreement with the experimental observations. A correct lower estimate of the mass of the observable universe related to the Dirac–Eddington–Weyl’s large number N = 10⁸⁰ is also obtained. The presence of the radial function R(r) is instrumental to understand why the cosmological constant is not zero and why it is so tiny. Finally, we rigorously prove why the proper use of Weyl’s Geometry within the context of Friedman–Lemaitre–Robertson–Walker cosmological models can account for both the origins and the value of the observed vacuum energy density (dark energy). The source of dark energy is just the dilaton-like Jordan–Brans–Dicke scalar field that is required to implement Weyl invariance of the most simple of all possible actions. The full theory involving the dynamics of Weyl’s gauge field A_μ is very rich and may explain also the anomalous Pioneer acceleration and the temporal variations (over cosmological scales) of the fundamental constants resulting from the expansion of the Universe. This is consistent with Dirac’s old idea of the plausible variation of the physical constants but with the advantage that it is not necessary to invoke extra dimensions. Dedicated to the loving memory of Rachael Bowers.     

Cosmological Wave Function and Wormhole Wave Function with a Conformal Complex Scalar Field

Quantum cosmology and the quantum wormhole witha conformal complex scalar field are discussed, thecorresponding Wheeler-DeWitt equations are obtained, andthe cosmological wave functions and wormhole wave functions are calculated, respectively,with different boundary conditions. From thecosmological wave function it is found that theprobability density of the universe is zero at a = 0,while at the ground state the most probable radius is aboutthe Planck scale. It is also shown that there exist twodifferent types of universes, which can be connected bythe quantum tunneling effect, transiting from one region to another. It follows from thewormhole wave function that the most probable radius ofthe wormholes is about the Planck scale, which impliesthat the wormhole is steady due to the quantumeffect.     

Three Flavor Neutrino Mixing and Dark Energy Above GUT Scale

Neutrino mixing lead to a non zero contribution to the dark energy of the universe. We assume that the neutrino masses and mixing arise through physics at a scale intermediate between Planck Scale and the electroweak scale. The mechanism of neutrino mixing is a possible candidate to contribute the cosmological dark energy. Quantum gravitational (Planck scale) effects lead to an effective SU(2) _L ×U(1) invariant dimension-5 Lagrangian involving neutrino and Higgs fields, which gives rise to additional terms in neutrino mass matrix. There additional term can be considered to be perturbation of the GUT scale bi-maximal neutrino mass matrix. We assume that the gravitational interaction is flavor. In this paper, we discuss the three flavor neutrino mixing and cosmological dark energy contributes due to Planck scale effects.     

Spherically symmetric anisotropic and inhomogeneous cosmological models

Spherically symmetric cosmological models filled with dust (pressure-free fluid) content are analyzed. It has been pointed out that these models are anisotropic (of non-vanishing shear) and inhomogeneous (∂p/ρr ≠ 0), the characteristics related directly to the presence of the free gravitational field. It is demonstrated that when the free gravitational field vanishes these models degenerate to the corresponding Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) models. It is further shown that the energy density of the free gravitational field can be introduced into observational cosmology as a new parameter since it enters into the expansion and deceleration equations, as well as conservation law for total energy, implying that the present Hubble velocity can be reached in a shorter time from the big bang. Finally, the effect of shear on the redshift is also discussed. This paper is dedicated to my teacher Professor V V Narlikar on the occasion of his 81st birthday.     

Scalar Gravity and Higgs Mechanism

The role that the auxiliary scalar field φ plays in Brans–Dicke cosmology is discussed. If a constant vacuum energy is assumed to be the origin of dark energy, then the corresponding density parameter would be a quantity varying with φ; and almost all of the fundamental components of our universe can be unified into the dynamical equation for φ. As a generalization of Brans–Dicke theory, we propose a new gravity theory with a complex scalar field ϕ which is coupled to the cosmological curvature scalar. Through such a coupling, the Higgs mechanism is naturally incorporated into the evolution of the universe, and a running density of the field vacuum energy is obtained which may release the particle standard model from the rigorous cosmological constant problem in some sense. Our model predicts a running mass scale of the fundamental particles in which the gauge symmetry breaks spontaneously. The running speed of the mass scale in our case could survive all existing experiments.     

Thermodynamics of Universe with Time Varying Cosmological Term

The FRW-type cosmologies with time varying cosmological term is discussed within the frame work of a thermodynamic context. If at some cosmological time, the cosmological term begins increasing again, as presently observed, expansion will accelerate and matter and/or radiation will be transformed back into dark energy. It is shown that such accelerated expansion is a route towards a new kind of gravitational singular state, characterized by an empty, conformally transitive spacetime in which all energy is dark. We investigate whether dynamic dark energy cosmologies are compatible with the second law of thermodynamics. We examine also the total entropy evolution with time. We observed that the dynamic dark energy cosmology is less restricted with second law of thermodynamics. Some physical implications of these solutions are briefly discussed.     

Modified entropic gravitation in superconductors

Verlinde recently developed a theoretical account of gravitation in terms of an entropic force. The central element in Verlinde’s derivation is information and its relation with entropy through the holographic principle. The application of this approach to the case of superconductors requires to take into account that information associated with superconductor’s quantum vacuum energy is not stored on Planck size surface elements, but in four volume cells with Planck-Einstein size. This has profound consequences on the type of gravitational force generated by the quantum vacuum condensate in superconductors, which is closely related with the cosmological repulsive acceleration responsible for the accelerated expansion of the Universe. Remarkably this new gravitational type force depends on the level of breaking of the weak equivalence principle for cooper pairs in a given superconducting material, which was previously derived by the author starting from similar principles. It is also shown that this new gravitational force can be interpreted as a surface force. The experimental detection of this new repulsive gravitational-type force appears to be challenging.     

量子纠缠与宇宙学弗里德曼方程

量子纠缠作为量子信息理论中最核心的部分,代表量子态一种内在的特性,是微观物质的一种根本的性质,它是以非定域的形式存在于多子量子系统中的一种神奇的物理现象.熵也是量子信息理论的重要概念之一,纠缠熵作为量子信息的一个测度已经成为一种重要的理论工具,为物理学中的各类课题提供了新的研究方法.本文主要考虑量子纠缠的宇宙学应用,试图更好地从纠缠的角度来理解宇宙动力学.本文研究了量子信息理论的概念和宇宙学之间的深层联系,利用费米正则坐标和共形费米坐标构建了弗里德曼- 勒梅特-罗伯逊-沃尔克宇宙学弗里德曼方程和纠缠之间的联系.假设小测地球（a geodesic ball）的纠缠熵在给定体积下是最大的,可以从量子纠缠第一定律推导出弗里德曼方程.研究表明引力与量子纠缠之间存在着某种深刻的联系,这种联系对引力场方程的解是成立的.     

Fundamental length scale of quantum spacetime foam

It is argued that the fundamental length scale for the quantum dynamics of spacetime need not be equal to the Planck length. Possibly, this new length scale is related to a nonvanishing cosmological constant or vacuum energy density. The text was submitted by the author in English.     

On the cosmological constant problem and brane-world geometry

The cosmological constant problem is examined within the context of the covariant brane-world gravity, based on Nash’s embedding theorem for Riemannian geometries. We show that the vacuum structure of the brane-world is more complex than General Relativity’s because it involves extrinsic elements, in specific, the extrinsic curvature. In other words, the shape (or local curvature) of an object becomes a relative concept, instead of the “absolute shape” of General Relativity. We point out that the immediate consequence is that the cosmological constant and the energy density of the vacuum quantum fluctuations have different physical meanings: while the vacuum energy density remains confined to the four-dimensional brane-world, the cosmological constant is a property of the bulk’s gravitational field that leads to the conclusion that these quantities cannot be compared, as it is usually done in General Relativity. Instead, the vacuum energy density contributes to the extrinsic curvature, which in turn generates Nash’s perturbation of the gravitational field. On the other hand, the cosmological constant problem ceases to be in the brane-world geometry, reappearing only in the limit where the extrinsic curvature vanishes.     

Cosmic acceleration from interaction of ordinary fluids

Cosmological models with two interacting fluids, each satisfying the strong energy condition, are studied in the framework of classical General Relativity. If the interactions are phenomenologically described by a power law in the scale factor, the two initial interacting fluids can be equivalently substituted by two non interacting effective fluids, where one of them may violate the strong energy condition and/or have negative energy density. Analytical solutions of the Friedmann equations of this general setting are obtained and studied. One may have, depending on the scale where the interaction becomes important, non singular universes with early accelerated phase, or singular models with transition from decelerated to accelerated expansion at large scales. Among the first, there are bouncing models where contraction is stopped by the interaction. In the second case, one obtains dark energy expansion rates without dark energy, like ΛCDM or phantomic accelerated expansions without cosmological constant or phantoms, respectively. We would like to thank CNPq of Brazil for financial support. One of us (NPN) would like to thank the French/Brazillian cooperation CAPES/COFECUB for partial financial support. We would also like to thank ‘Pequeno Seminario’ of CBPF’s Cosmology Group for useful discussions.     

Dark energy and dark gravity: theory overview

Observations provide increasingly strong evidence that the universe is accelerating. This revolutionary advance in cosmological observations confronts theoretical cosmology with a tremendous challenge, which it has so far failed to meet. Explanations of cosmic acceleration within the framework of general relativity are plagued by difficulties. General relativistic models are nearly all based on a dark energy field with fine-tuned, unnatural properties. There is a great variety of models, but all share one feature in common—an inability to account for the gravitational properties of the vacuum energy. Speculative ideas from string theory may hold some promise, but it is fair to say that no convincing model has yet been proposed. An alternative to dark energy is that gravity itself may behave differently from general relativity on the largest scales, in such a way as to produce acceleration. The alternative approach of modified gravity (or dark gravity) provides a new angle on the problem, but also faces serious difficulties, including in all known cases severe fine-tuning and the problem of explaining why the vacuum energy does not gravitate. The lack of an adequate theoretical framework for the late-time acceleration of the universe represents a deep crisis for theory—but also an exciting challenge for theorists. It seems likely that an entirely new paradigm is required to resolve this crisis.