Article

# Unified Dark Matter in Scalar Field Cosmologies

Modern Physics Letters A (Impact Factor: 1.11). 04/2007; DOI:10.1142/S0217732307025893
Source: arXiv

ABSTRACT Considering the general Lagrangian of k-essence models, we study and classify them through variables connected to the fluid equation of state parameter w_\kappa. This allows to find solutions around which the scalar field describes a mixture of dark matter and cosmological constant-like dark energy, an example being the purely kinetic model proposed by Scherrer. Making the stronger assumption that the scalar field Lagrangian is exactly constant along solutions of the equation of motion, we find a general class of k-essence models whose classical trajectories directly describe a unified dark matter/dark energy (cosmological constant) fluid. While the simplest case of a scalar field with canonical kinetic term unavoidably leads to an effective sound speed c_s=1, thereby inhibiting the growth of matter inhomogeneities, more general non-canonical k-essence models allow for the possibility that c_s << 1 whenever matter dominates.

0 0
·
0 Bookmarks
·
54 Views
• Source
##### Article: Seeding supermassive black holes with a non-vortical dark-matter subcomponent
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: A perfect irrotational fluid with the equation of state of dust, Irrotational Dark Matter (IDM), is incapable of virializing and instead forms a cosmoskeleton of filaments with supermassive black holes at the joints. This stark difference from the standard cold dark matter (CDM) scenario arises because IDM must exhibit potential flow at all times, preventing shell-crossing from occurring. This scenario is applicable to general non-oscillating scalar-field theories with a small sound speed. Our model of combined IDM and CDM components thereby provides a solution to the problem of forming the observed billion-solar-mass black holes at redshifts of six and higher. In particular, as a result of the reduced vortical flow, the growth of the black holes is expected to be more rapid at later times as compared to the standard scenario.
Physical Review D 07/2013; 88(8):083520. · 4.69 Impact Factor
• Source
##### Article: Consistent perturbations in an imperfect fluid
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We present a new prescription for analysing cosmological perturbations in a more-general class of scalar-field dark-energy models where the energy-momentum tensor has an imperfect-fluid form. This class includes Brans-Dicke models, f(R) gravity, theories with kinetic gravity braiding and generalised galileons. We employ the intuitive language of fluids, allowing us to explicitly maintain a dependence on physical and potentially measurable properties. We demonstrate that hydrodynamics is not always a valid description for describing cosmological perturbations in general scalar-field theories and present a consistent alternative that nonetheless utilises the fluid language. We apply this approach explicitly to a worked example: k-essence non-minimally coupled to gravity. This is the simplest case which captures the essential new features of these imperfect-fluid models. We demonstrate the generic existence of a new scale separating regimes where the fluid is perfect and imperfect. We obtain the equations for the evolution of dark-energy density perturbations in both these regimes. The model also features two other known scales: the Compton scale related to the breaking of shift symmetry and the Jeans scale which we show is determined by the speed of propagation of small scalar-field perturbations, i.e. causality, as opposed to the frequently used definition of the ratio of the pressure and energy-density perturbations.
Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics 08/2012; 2013(01):004. · 6.04 Impact Factor
• Source
##### Article: Note on the thermodynamics and the speed of sound of a scalar field
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: We investigate the correspondence between a perfect fluid and a scalar field and show a possible way of expressing thermodynamic quantities such as entropy, particle number density, temperature and chemical potential in terms of the scalar field phi and its kinetic term X. We prove a theorem which relates isentropy with purely kinetic Lagrangian. As an application, we study the evolution of the gravitational potential in cosmological perturbation theory.
Classical and Quantum Gravity 02/2014; 31(5). · 3.56 Impact Factor