118471121
Aspects of Infrared Modifications of Gravity
In the first part of the thesis, and after an introduction to certain models of modified gravity, we study consistent Lagrangians for Lorentz invariant (massive and massless) spin-2 and spin-3/2 particles in flat space. The second part of the dissertation is devoted to non-linear extensions for the spin-2 case, focusing on unimodular gravity and bigravity. Both theories lead to modifications of General Relativity at large distances and we will study exact solutions, causal structure of those solutions, and perturbation theory (specially for the Lorentz breaking case). Some comments on quantization of these theories can be found in an appendix.
118593879
Technically natural dark energy from Lorentz breaking
We construct a model of dark energy with a technically natural small contribution to cosmic acceleration, i.e. this contribution does not receive corrections from other scales in the theory. The proposed acceleration mechanism appears generically in the low-energy limit of gravity theories with violation of Lorentz invariance that contain a derivatively coupled scalar field Theta. The latter may be the Goldstone field of a broken global symmetry. The model, that we call Theta CDM, is a valid effective field theory up to a high cutoff just a few orders of magnitude below the Planck scale. Furthermore, it can be ultraviolet-completed in the context of Horava gravity. We discuss the observational predictions of the model. Even in the absence of a cosmological constant term, the expansion history of the Universe is essentially indistinguishable from that of Lambda CDM. The difference between the two theories appears at the level of cosmological perturbations. We find that in Theta CDM the matter power spectrum is enhanced at subhorizon scales compared to Lambda CDM. This property can be used to discriminate the model from Lambda CDM with current cosmological data.
7392933
Consistent extension of Horava gravity.
We propose a natural extension of Horava's model for quantum gravity, which is free from the notorious pathologies of the original proposal. The new model endows the scalar graviton mode with a regular quadratic action and remains power-counting renormalizable. At low energies, it reduces to a Lorentz-violating scalar-tensor gravity theory. The deviations with respect to general relativity can be made weak by an appropriate choice of parameters.
118722197
Testing Lorentz invariance of dark matter
We study the possibility to constrain deviations from Lorentz invariance in dark matter (DM) with cosmological observations. Breaking of Lorentz invariance generically introduces new light gravitational degrees of freedom, which we represent through a dynamical timelike vector field. If DM does not obey Lorentz invariance, it couples to this vector field. We find that this coupling affects the inertial mass of small DM halos which no longer satisfy the equivalence principle. For large enough lumps of DM we identify a (chameleon) mechanism that restores the inertial mass to its standard value. As a consequence, the dynamics of gravitational clustering are modified. Two prominent effects are a scale dependent enhancement in the growth of large scale structure and a scale dependent bias between DM and baryon density perturbations. The comparison with the measured linear matter power spectrum in principle allows to bound the departure from Lorentz invariance of DM at the per cent level.
16911918
Transverse symmetry and spin-3/2 fields
We study the possible covariant Lagrangians that describe the propagation of pure spin-3/2 particles. We show that, apart from the well-known Rarita–Schwinger Lagrangian, there is another possibility where the field is described by a γ-traceless combination and that both Lagrangians yield the same physical predictions for the interaction of conserved sources. We also prove that for the case when the spin-2 field is described by a traceless field, there is no possible spin-3/2 action that makes the system supersymmetric. Nevertheless, the interaction between this field and the spin-3/2 field may be possible.
53490516
The Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System (CLASS). Part II: Approximation schemes
Boltzmann codes are used extensively by several groups for constraining cosmo- logical parameters with Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure data. This activity is computationally expensive, since a typical project requires from 10 4 to 10 5 Boltz- mann code executions. The newly released code CLASS (Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System) incorporates improved approximation schemes leading to a simultaneous gain in speed and precision. We describe here the three approximations used by CLASS for basic �CDM models, namely: a baryon-photon tight-coupling approximation which can be set to first order, second order or to a compromise between the two; an ultra-relativistic fluid approximation which had not been implemented in public distributions before; and finally a radiation streaming approximation taking reionisation into account.
119111361
Quantization of the massless scalar field in de Sitter spacetime with unitary dynamics
We present a Fock quantization with unitary dynamics for the massless scalar field in de Sitter spacetime.
55472276
Inclusion of Matter in Inhomogeneous Loop Quantum Cosmology
We study the hybrid quantization of the linearly polarized Gowdy T3 model with a massless scalar field with the same symmetries as the metric. For simplicity, we quantize its restriction to the model with local rotational symmetry. Using this hybrid approach, the homogeneous degrees of freedom of the geometry are quantized a la loop, leading to the resolution of the cosmological singularity. A Fock quantization is employed both for the matter and the gravitational inhomogeneities. Owing to the inclusion of the massless scalar field this system allows us to modelize flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies filled with inhomogeneities propagating in one direction, providing a perfect scenario to study the quantum back-reaction of the inhomogeneities on the polymeric homogeneous and isotropic background.
30884654
Matter in inhomogeneous loop quantum cosmology: the Gowdy $T^3$ model
We apply a hybrid approach which combines loop and Fock quantizations to fully quantize the linearly polarized Gowdy T{sup 3} model in the presence of a massless scalar field with the same symmetries as the metric. Like in the absence of matter content, the application of loop techniques leads to a quantum resolution of the classical cosmological singularity. Most importantly, thanks to the inclusion of matter, the homogeneous sector of the model contains flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker solutions, which are not allowed in vacuo. Therefore, this model provides a simple setting to study at the quantum level interesting physical phenomena such as the effect of the anisotropies and inhomogeneities on flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies.
9228382
Uniqueness of the Fock quantization of scalar fields in spatially flat cosmological spacetimes
We study the Fock quantization of scalar fields in (generically) time dependent scenarios, focusing on the case in which the field propagation occurs in –either a background or effective– spacetime with spatial sections of flat compact topology. The discussion finds important applications in cosmology, like e.g. in the description of test Klein-Gordon fields and scalar perturbations in Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime in the observationally favored flat case. Two types of ambiguities in the quantization are analyzed. First, the infinite ambiguity existing in the choice of a Fock representation for the canonical commutation relations, understandable as the freedom in the choice of inequivalent vacua for a given field. Besides, in cosmological situations, it is customary to scale the fields by time dependent functions, which absorb part of the evolution arising from the spacetime, which is treated classically. This leads to an additional ambiguity, this time in the choice of a canonical pair of field variables. We show that both types of ambiguities are removed by the requirements of (a) invariance of the vacuum under the symmetries of the three-torus, and (b) unitary implementation of the dynamics in the quantum theory. In this way, one arrives at a unique class of unitarily equivalent Fock quantizations for the system. This result provides considerable robustness to the quantum predictions and renders meaningful the confrontation with observation.
56182798
Massless scalar field in de Sitter spacetime: unitary quantum time evolution
We prove that, under the standard conformal scaling, a free scalar field in de Sitter spacetime admits an O(4)-invariant Fock quantization such that time evolution is unitarily implemented. Since this applies in particular to the massless case, this result disproves previous claims in the literature. We discuss the relationship between this quantization with unitary dynamics and the family of O(4)-invariant Hadamard states given by Allen and Folacci, as well as with the Bunch–Davies vacuum.