Study of some chaotic inflationary models in $$ gravity

In this paper, we discuss an inflationary scenario via scalar field and fluid cosmology for an anisotropic homogeneous universe model in \(f(R)\) gravity. We consider an equation of state which corresponds to a quasi-de Sitter expansion and investigate the effect of the anisotropy parameter for different values of the deviation parameter. We evaluate potential models like linear, quadratic and quartic models which correspond to chaotic inflation. We construct the observational parameters for a power-law model of \(f(R)\) gravity and construct the graphical analysis of tensor–scalar ratio and spectral index which indicates the consistency of these parameters with Planck 2015 data.     

New holographic dark energy model with constant bulk viscosity in modified $$ gravity theory

The aim of this paper is to study new holographic dark energy (HDE) model in modified \(f(R,T)\) gravity theory within the framework of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model with bulk viscous matter content. It is thought that the negative pressure caused by the bulk viscosity can play the role of dark energy component, and drive the accelerating expansion of the universe. This is the motive of this paper to observe such phenomena with bulk viscosity. In the specific model \(f(R,T)=R+\lambda T\), where \(R\) is the Ricci scalar, \(T\) the trace of the energy-momentum tensor and \(\lambda \) is a constant, we find the solution for non-viscous and viscous new HDE models. We analyze new HDE model with constant bulk viscosity, \(\zeta =\zeta _{0}= \text{const.}\) to explain the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We classify all possible scenarios (deceleration, acceleration and their transition) with possible positive and negative ranges of \(\lambda \) over the constraint on \(\zeta _{0}\) to analyze the evolution of the universe. We obtain the solutions of scale factor and deceleration parameter, and discuss the evolution of the universe. We observe the future finite-time singularities of type I and III at a finite time under certain constraints on \(\lambda \). We also investigate the statefinder and \(\mathit{Om}\) diagnostics of the viscous new HDE model to discriminate with other existing dark energy models. In late time the viscous new HDE model approaches to \(\varLambda \mathit{CDM}\) model. We also discuss the thermodynamics and entropy of the model and find that it satisfies the second law of thermodynamics.     

Existence of static wormhole solutions in $$ gravity

This work investigates some feasible regions for the existence of traversable wormhole geometries in \(f(R,G)\) gravity, where \(R\) and \(G\) represent the Ricci scalar and the Gauss-Bonnet invariant respectively. Three different matter contents anisotropic fluid, isotropic fluid and barotropic fluid have been considered for the analysis. Moreover, we split \(f(R,G)\) gravity model into Strobinsky like \(f(R)\) model and a power law \(f(G)\) model to explore wormhole geometries. We select red-shift and shape functions which are suitable for the existence of wormhole solutions for the chosen \(f(R,G)\) gravity model. It has been analyzed with the graphical evolution that the null energy and weak energy conditions for the effective energy-momentum tensor are usually violated for the ordinary matter content. However, some small feasible regions for the existence of wormhole solutions have been found where the energy conditions are not violated. The overall analysis confirms the existence of the wormhole geometries in \(f(R,G)\) gravity under some reasonable circumstances.     

FLRW cosmological models with quark and strange quark matters in $$ gravity

In this paper, we have studied the magnetized quark matter (QM) and strange quark matter (SQM) distributions in the presence of \(f(R,T)\) gravity in the background of Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) metric. To get exact solutions of modified field equations we have used \(f(R,T ) = R + 2 f(T)\) model given by Harko et al. with two different parametrization of geometrical parameters i.e. the parametrization of the deceleration parameter \(q \), and the scale factor \(a \) in hybrid expansion form. Also, we have obtained Einstein Static Universe (ESU) solutions for QM and SQM distributions in \(f(R,T)\) gravity and General Relativity (GR). All models in \(f(R,T)\) gravity and GR for FRW and ESU Universes with QM also SQM distributions, we get zero magnetic field. These results agree with the solutions of Akta? and Aygün in \(f(R,T)\) gravity. However, we have also discussed the physical consequences of our obtained models.     

Little rip cosmological models with quadratic equation of state with time dependent parameters

We have studied flat FRW cosmological model of the universe filled with an ideal fluid with quadratic equation of state (EOS) with time dependent parameters \(\omega(t)\) and \(\varLambda(t)\). We found the equation of the state parameter \(\omega(t)\) is less than ?1 and also found Little Rip (LR) and Pseudo Rip (PR) behavior for dark energy.     

Cosmic strings in a five dimensional spherically symmetric background in $$ gravity

We study the physical behavior of a five dimensional non-static spherically symmetric cosmological models in the presence of massive strings in the framework of \(f(R,T)\) gravity proposed by Harko et al. (Phys. Rev. D 84:024020, 2011). Here \(R\) is the Ricci scalar and \(T\) is the trace of the stress energy tensor and the fifth dimension is not observed because it is compact. We solve the field equations (i) using a relation between the scale factors given by Samantha and Dhal (Int. J. Theor. Phys. 52:1334, 2013) and (ii) equations of state for string models. The models obtained correspond to \(p\)-string, geometric string and massive string models in this modified theory in five dimensions. Cosmological parameters of the models are determined and their dynamical properties are discussed.     

Anisotropic new holographic dark energy model in Saez–Ballester theory of gravitation

This work is devoted to the investigation of new holographic dark energy (infrared cutoff is the Hubble radius) in locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi type-\(I\) universe within the framework of Saez–Ballester (Phys. Lett. A 113:467, 1986) scalar–tensor theory of gravitation. We construct interacting and non-interacting dark energy models by solving the field equations using a relationship between the metric potentials. This leads to a variable deceleration parameter model which exhibits a transition of the universe from deceleration to acceleration. We evaluate various cosmological parameters of our models. We have observed that the energy density parameters, equation of state and important cosmological planes (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}} - \omega _{\mathit{de}}'\) and \(r - s\)) yield the results compatible with the modern observational data. We have, also, discussed the stability analysis of our models.     

An analysis of the convergence of Newton iterations for solving elliptic Kepler’s equation

In this note a study of the convergence properties of some starters \( E_0 = E_0(e,M)\) in the eccentricity–mean anomaly variables for solving the elliptic Kepler’s equation (KE) by Newton’s method is presented. By using a Wang Xinghua’s theorem (Xinghua in Math Comput 68(225):169–186, 1999) on best possible error bounds in the solution of nonlinear equations by Newton’s method, we obtain for each starter \( E_0(e,M)\) a set of values \( (e,M) \in [0, 1) \times [0, \pi ]\) that lead to the q-convergence in the sense that Newton’s sequence \( (E_n)_{n \ge 0}\) generated from \( E_0 = E_0(e,M)\) is well defined, converges to the exact solution \(E^* = E^*(e,M)\) of KE and further \( \vert E_n - E^* \vert \le q^{2^n -1}\; \vert E_0 - E^* \vert \) holds for all \( n \ge 0\). This study completes in some sense the results derived by Avendaño et al. (Celest Mech Dyn Astron 119:27–44, 2014) by using Smale’s \(\alpha \)-test with \(q=1/2\). Also since in KE the convergence rate of Newton’s method tends to zero as \( e \rightarrow 0\), we show that the error estimates given in the Wang Xinghua’s theorem for KE can also be used to determine sets of q-convergence with \( q = e^k \; \widetilde{q} \) for all \( e \in [0,1)\) and a fixed \( \widetilde{q} \le 1\). Some remarks on the use of this theorem to derive a priori estimates of the error \( \vert E_n - E^* \vert \) after n Kepler’s iterations are given. Finally, a posteriori bounds of this error that can be used to a dynamical estimation of the error are also obtained.     

Resonance tongues in the linear Sitnikov equation

In this paper, we deal with a Hill’s equation, depending on two parameters \(e\in [0,1)\) and \(\varLambda >0\), that has applications to some problems in Celestial Mechanics of the Sitnikov type. Due to the nonlinearity of the eccentricity parameter e and the coexistence problem, the stability diagram in the \((e,\varLambda )\)-plane presents unusual resonance tongues emerging from points \((0,(n/2)^2),\ n=1,2,\ldots \) The tongues bounded by curves of eigenvalues corresponding to \(2\pi \)-periodic solutions collapse into a single curve of coexistence (for which there exist two independent \(2\pi \)-periodic eigenfunctions), whereas the remaining tongues have no pockets and are very thin. Unlike most of the literature related to resonance tongues and Sitnikov-type problems, the study of the tongues is made from a global point of view in the whole range of \(e\in [0,1)\). Indeed, an interesting behavior of the tongues is found: almost all of them concentrate in a small \(\varLambda \)-interval [1, 9 / 8] as \(e\rightarrow 1^-\). We apply the stability diagram of our equation to determine the regions for which the equilibrium of a Sitnikov \((N+1)\)-body problem is stable in the sense of Lyapunov and the regions having symmetric periodic solutions with a given number of zeros. We also study the Lyapunov stability of the equilibrium in the center of mass of a curved Sitnikov problem.     

Motion of the fast exoplanets

It is shown that a number of superfast, with periods \(< 2\) d, exoplanets revolve around parent stars with periods, near-commensurate with \(P_{E}\) and/or \(2 P_{E} / \pi\), where the exoplanet resonance timescale \(P_{E}=9603(85)\) s agrees fairly well with the period \(P_{0}= 9600.606(12)\) s of the so-called “cosmic oscillation” (the probability that the two timescales would coincide by chance is near \(3 \times10^{-4}\); the \(P_{0}\) period was discovered first in the Sun, and later on—in other objects of Cosmos). True nature of the exoplanet \(P_{0}\) resonance is unknown.     

Relating Solar Energetic Particle Event Fluences to Peak Intensities

Recently we (Kahler and Ling, Solar Phys.292, 59, 2017: KL) have shown that time–intensity profiles [\(I(t)\)] of 14 large solar energetic particle (SEP) events can be fitted with a simple two-parameter fit, the modified Weibull function, which is characterized by shape and scaling parameters [\(\alpha\) and \(\beta\)]. We now look for a simple correlation between an event peak energy intensity [\(I_{\mathrm{p}}\)] and the time integral of \(I(t)\) over the event duration: the fluence [\(F\)]. We first ask how the ratio of \(F/I_{\mathrm{p}}\) varies for the fits of the 14 KL events and then examine that ratio for three separate published statistical studies of SEP events in which both \(F\) and \(I_{\mathrm{p}}\) were measured for comparisons of those parameters with various solar-flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) parameters. The three studies included SEP energies from a 4?–?13 MeV band to \(E > 100~\mbox{MeV}\). Within each group of SEP events, we find a very robust correlation (\(\mathrm{CC} > 0.90\)) in log–log plots of \(F\)versus\(I_{\mathrm{p}}\) over four decades of \(I_{\mathrm{p}}\). The ratio increases from western to eastern longitudes. From the value of \(I_{\mathrm{p}}\) for a given event, \(F\) can be estimated to within a standard deviation of a factor of \({\leq}\,2\). Log–log plots of two studies are consistent with slopes of unity, but the third study shows plot slopes of \({<}\,1\) and decreasing with increasing energy for their four energy ranges from \(E > 10~\mbox{MeV}\) to \({>}\,100~\mbox{MeV}\). This difference is not explained.     

Spherical accretion of matter by charged black holes on $$ Gravity

We studied the spherical accretion of matter by charged black holes on \(f(T)\) Gravity. Considering the accretion model of a isentropic perfect fluid we obtain the general form of the Hamiltonian and the dynamic system for the fluid. We have analysed the movements of an isothermal fluid model with \(p=\omega e\) and where \(p\) is the pressure and \(e\) the total energy density. The analysis of the cases shows the possibility of spherical accretion of fluid by black holes, revealing new phenomena as cyclical movement inside the event horizon.     

Dark energy cosmological models with cosmic string

In this paper we have studied the anisotropic Kantowski-Sachs, locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type-I and LRS Bianchi type-III geometries filled with dark energy and one dimensional cosmic string in the Saez-Ballester theory of gravitation. To get physically valid solution we take hybrid expansion law of the average scale factor which is a product of power and exponential type of functions that results in time dependent deceleration parameter (\(q\)). The equation of state parameter of dark energy (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}}\)) has been discussed and we have observed that for the three models it crosses the phantom divide line (\(\omega _{\mathit{de}} = -1\)) and shows quintom like behavior. The density of dark energy (\(\rho _{\mathit{de}}\)) is an increasing function of redshift and remains positive throughout the evolution of the universe for the three models. Moreover in Kantowski-Sachs and LRS Bianchi type-I geometries the dark energy density dominates the string tension density (\(\lambda \)) and proper density (\(\rho \)) throughout the evolution of the universe. The physical and geometrical aspects of the statefinder parameters (\(r,s\)), squared speed of sound (\(v_{s}^{2} \)) and \(\omega _{\mathit{de}}\)–\(\omega ^{\prime }_{\mathit{de}}\) plane are also discussed.     

The anisotropic distribution of the dark energy within the scope of LRS Bianchi type I model

We investigate the anisotropic locally rotationally symmetric (LRS) Bianchi type I cosmological model with dark matter and anisotropic dark energy. We assume that the shear scalar \((\sigma )\) is proportional to expansion scalar \((\theta )\). A special law is introduced for two skewness parameters that describe the deviation of pressure from isotropy. This law can lead to models: the hybrid expansion, the big rip and the little rip. The behavior of the Universe is discussed depending on the numerical parameters of the models.     

Particle creation in the framework of $$ gravity

In this paper, we study the problem of massless particle creation in a flat, homogeneous and isotropic universe in the framework of \(f(G)\) gravity. The Bogolyubov coefficients are calculated for the accelerating power-law solutions of the model in a matter dominated universe, from which the total number of created particle per unit volume of space can be obtained. It is proved that the total particle density always has a finite value. Therefore, the Bogolyubov transformations are well-defined and the Hilbert spaces spanned by the vacuum states at different times are unitarily equivalent. We find that the particles with small values of the mode \(k\) are produced in the past and particles with large values of \(k\) are produced only in the future. The negative pressure resulting from the gravitational particle creation is also determined. It is then argued that this pressure even in the presence of energy density and thermal pressure may affect significantly the cosmic expansion.     

A new holographic dark energy model in Brans-Dicke theory with logarithmic scalar field

We study a holographic dark energy model in the framework of Brans-Dicke (BD) theory with taking into account the interaction between dark matter and holographic dark energy. We use the recent observational data sets, namely SN Ia compressed Joint Light-Analysis (cJLA) compilation, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) from BOSS DR12 and the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) of Planck 2015. After calculating the evolution of the equation of state as well as the deceleration parameters, we find that with a logarithmic form for the BD scalar field the phantom crossing can be achieved in the late time of cosmic evolution. Unlike the conventional theory of holographic dark energy in standard cosmology (\(\omega_{D}=0\)), our model results in a late time accelerated expansion. It is also shown that the cosmic coincidence problem may be resolved in the proposed model. We execute the statefinder and Om diagnostic tools and demonstrate that interaction term does not play a significant role. Based on the observational data sets used in this paper it seems that the best value with \(1\sigma \) and \(2\sigma \) confidence interval are \(\varOmega_{m}=0.268^{+0.008~+0.010}_{-0.007~-0.009}\), \(\alpha =3.361^{+0.332~+0.483} _{-0.401~-0.522}\), \(\beta =5.560^{+0.541~+0.780}_{-0.510~-0.729}\), \(c=0.777^{+0.023~+0.029}_{-0.017~-0.023}\) and \(b^{2} =0.045\), according to which we find that the proposed model in the presence of interaction is compatible with the recent observational data.     

Addendum to: Strength of the Solar Coronal Magnetic Field – A Comparison of Independent Estimates Using Contemporaneous Radio and White-Light Observations

This addendum uses an alternate fit for the electron density distribution \(N(r)\) (see Figure 1) and estimates the coronal magnetic field using the new model. We find that the estimates of the magnetic field are in close agreement using both the models.

We have fit the \(N(r)\) distribution obtained from STEREO-A/COR1 and SOHO/LASCO-C2 using a fifth-order polynomial (see Figure 1). The expression can be written as

$$\begin{aligned} N_{\text{cor}}(r) &= 1.43 \times 10^{9} r^{-5} - 1.91 \times 10^{9} r^{-4} + 1.07 \times 10^{9} r^{-3} - 2.87 \times 10^{8} r^{-2} \\ &\quad {} + 3.76 \times 10^{7} r^{-1} - 1.91 \times 10^{6} , \end{aligned}$$

(1)

where \(N_{\text{cor}}(r)\) is in units of cm^?3 and \(r\) is in units of \(\mathrm{R}_{\odot}\). The background coronal electron density is enhanced by a factor of 5.5 at 2.63 \(\mathrm{R}_{\odot}\) during the coronal mass ejection (CME). The estimated coronal magnetic field strength (\(B\)) using radio data indicates that \(B(r) \approx(0.51\text{\,--\,}0.48) \pm 0.02\ \mathrm{G}\) in the range \(r \approx2.65\text{\, --\,}2.82\ \mathrm{R}_{\odot}\). The field strengths for STEREO-A/COR1 and SOHO/LASCO-C2 are ≈?0.32 G at \(r \approx 3.11\ \mathrm{R}_{\odot}\) and ≈?0.12 G at \(r \approx 4.40\ \mathrm{R}_{\odot}\), respectively.

     

Superhump and outburst activity of the cataclysmic variable RZ LMi in the $$- and optical passbands

An analysis of the new \(U,B,V,R_{C},I_{C}\)-photometry of the cataclysmic variable RZ LMi obtained in 2016–17 showed the largest \((U-B)\) colour excess in quiescence as well as during the decline of brightness, associated with the outbursts activity. The smallest \((U-B)\) colour excess was found during the brightness increase from the quiescence. In contrast to the \((U-B)\) colour index, the \((B-V),(V-R_{C}),(R_{C}-I_{C})\) colour indices exhibits the largest colour excesses near the maximum of the outburst and the smallest during the quiescence. The \((B-V)\) colour index showed also a large excess 1–2 days before a minimum. The detailed study of superhumps during the maximum of activity reveals the largest \((U-B)\) colour excess at the time of the minimum brightness of superhumps. The \((B-R_{C})\) colour index exhibits a similar behaviour, but with a phase shift of \(+0.1\mbox{--}{+}0.2\) period of superhumps. The tracks in two-colour and colour-magnitude diagrams during superoutbursts are compared with the data for other cataclysmic variables during their outbursts as well as with published theoretical calculations.     

Establishing the Galactic Centre distance using VVV Bulge RR Lyrae variables

This study’s objective was to exploit infrared VVV (VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea) photometry for high latitude RRab stars to establish an accurate Galactic Centre distance. RRab candidates were discovered and reaffirmed (\(n=4194\)) by matching \(K_{s}\) photometry with templates via \(\chi ^{2}\) minimization, and contaminants were reduced by ensuring targets adhered to a strict period-amplitude (\(\Delta K_{s}\)) trend and passed the Elorietta et al. classifier. The distance to the Galactic Centre was determined from a high latitude Bulge subsample (\(|b|>4^{\circ}\), \(R_{\mathit{GC}}=8.30 \pm 0.36\) kpc, random uncertainty is relatively negligible), and importantly, the comparatively low color-excess and uncrowded location mitigated uncertainties tied to the extinction law, the magnitude-limited nature of the analysis, and photometric contamination. Circumventing those problems resulted in a key uncertainty being the \(M_{K_{s}}\) relation, which was derived using LMC RRab stars (\(M_{K_{s}}=-(2.66\pm 0.06) \log {P}-(1.03\pm 0.06)\), \((J-K_{s})_{0}=(0.31\pm 0.04) \log {P} + (0.35\pm 0.02)\), assuming \(\mu _{0,\mathit{LMC}}=18.43\)). The Galactic Centre distance was not corrected for the cone-effect. Lastly, a new distance indicator emerged as brighter overdensities in the period-magnitude-amplitude diagrams analyzed, which arise from blended RRab and red clump stars. Blending may thrust faint extragalactic variables into the range of detectability.