An FLRW interacting dark energy model of the Universe

In this paper, we have presented an FLRW universe containing two-fluids (baryonic and dark energy), by assuming the deceleration parameter as a linear function of the Hubble function. This results in a time-dependent deceleration parameter (DP) having a transition from past decelerating to the present accelerating universe. In this model, dark energy (DE) interacts with dust to produce a new law for the density. As per our model, our universe is at present in a phantom phase after passing through a quintessence phase in the past. The physical importance of the two-fluid scenario is described in various aspects. The model is shown to satisfy current observational constraints such as recent Planck results. Various cosmological parameters relating to the history of the universe have been investigated.     

Oscillatory Universe, dark energy and general relativity

The concept of oscillatory Universe appears to be realistic and buried in the dynamic dark energy equation of state. We explore its evolutionary history under the framework of general relativity. We observe that oscillations do not go unnoticed with such an equation of state and that their effects persist later on in cosmic evolution. The ‘classical’ general relativity seems to retain the past history of oscillatory Universe in the form of increasing scale factor as the classical thermodynamics retains this history in the form of increasing cosmological entropy.     

Scalar field as dark energy accelerating expansion of the Universe

The features of a homogeneous scalar field ϕ with classical Lagrangian L = ϕ_;i ϕ^;i /2 − V(ϕ) and tachyon field Lagrangian L = −V(ϕ)√1 − ϕ_;i ϕ^;i causing the observable accelerated expansion of the Universe are analyzed. The models with constant equation-of-state parameter w _de = p _de/ρ_de < −1/3 are studied. For both cases the fields ϕ(a) and potentials V(a) are reconstructed for the parameters of cosmological model of the Universe derived from the observations. The effect of rolling down of the potential V(ϕ) to minimum is shown. Published in Ukrainian in Kinematika i Fizika Nebesnykh Tel, 2008, Vol. 24, No. 5, pp. 345–359. The article was translated by the authors.     

Tracing the nature of dark energy with galaxy distribution

Dynamical dark energy (DE) is a viable alternative to the cosmological constant. Constructing tests to discriminate between Λ and dynamical DE models is difficult, however, because the differences are not large. In this paper we explore tests based on the galaxy mass function, the void probability function (VPF), and the number of galaxy clusters. At high z , the number density of clusters shows large differences between DE models, but geometrical factors reduce the differences substantially. We find that detecting a model dependence in the cluster redshift distribution is a significant challenge. We show that the galaxy redshift distribution is potentially a more sensitive characteristic. We do this by populating dark matter haloes in N -body simulations with galaxies using well-tested halo occupation distributions. We also estimate the VPF and find that samples with the same angular surface density of galaxies, in different models, exhibition almost model-independent VPF which therefore cannot be used as a test for DE. Once again, geometry and cosmic evolution compensate each other. By comparing VPFs for samples with fixed galaxy mass limits, we find measurable differences.     

Dark matter and dark energy in the Universe: Astrophysical reasons and theoretical models

The general review on the problem of dark matter and dark energy in observable Universe is given. The problem is treated from the point of view of research fields on the boundary of which this fundamental task is situated, namely, the astrophysics and theoretical physics. We emphasize that interdisciplinary nature of “dark sector” of Universe problem can assist in its resolution. The paper does not describe the history of the question, but is centred on revealing the main trends and perspectives. Published in Ukrainian in Kinematika i Fizika Nebesnykh Tel, 2009, Vol. 25, No. 2, pp. 83–106. The article was translated by the authors.     

Dynamics of expansion of the Universe in the models with nonminimally coupled dark energy

The dark energy model with barotropic equation of state, which interacts with dark matter by gravitation and by other force, which causes the energy-momentum exchange between them, is considered. Both components are described in approximation of ideal fluid, which are parameterized by density, equation of state and effective sound speed parameters. The three types of interactions between dark components are considered: interaction independent from their densities, interaction proportional to energy density of dark energy, and interaction proportional to energy density of dark matter. The equations that describe the expansion dynamics of homogeneous and isotropic Universe and evolution of densities of both components for different values of interaction parameter are obtained on the bases of the general covariant conservation equations and Einstein’s ones. For three kinds of interactions, the existing of the range of values of parameters of dark energy for which the densities of dark components are negative was shown. The conditions of positivity of energy density of dark energy and dark matter were written for which the constraints on the value of parameter of interaction were derived. The dynamics of expansion of the Universe with these interactions of dark energy and dark matter is analyzed.     

Gravitational lenses in the dark Universe

We discuss how different cosmological models of the Universe affect the probability that a background source has multiple images related by an angular distance, i.e., the optical depth of gravitational lensing. We examine some cosmological models for different values of the density parameter Ω _i : (i) the cold dark matter model, (ii) the ΛCDM model, (iii) the Bose-Einstein condensate dark matter model, (iv) the Chaplygin gas model, (v) the viscous fluid cosmological model and (vi) the holographic dark energy model by using the singular isothermal sphere (SIS) model for the halos of dark matter. We note that the dependence of the energy-matter content of the universe profoundly modifies the frequency of multiple quasar images.     

Constraining the nature of dark energy using the Square Kilometer Array Telescope

We investigate the potential of the Square Kilometer Array Telescope (SKA) to constrain the sound speed of dark energy. The Integrated Sachs Wolfe (ISW) effect results in a significant power spectrum signal when Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropies are cross-correlated with galaxies detectable with the SKA in H  i . We consider using this measurement, the autocorrelation of H  i galaxies and the CMB temperature power spectrum to derive constraints on the sound speed. We study the contributions to the cross-correlation signal made by galaxies at different redshifts and use redshift tomography to improve the signal-to-noise. We use a  χ²  analysis to estimate the significance of detecting a sound speed different from that expected in quintessence models, finding that there is potential to distinguish very low sound speeds from the quintessence value.     

On the holographic dark energy in chameleon scalar-tensor cosmology

We study the holographic dark energy (HDE) model in generalized Brans-Dicke scenario with a non-minimal coupling between the scalar field and matter Lagrangian namely Chameleon Brans Dicke (CBD) mechanism. In this study we consider the interacting and non-interacting cases for two different cutoffs. The physical quantities of the model such as, equation of state (EoS) parameter, deceleration parameter and the evolution equation of dimensionless parameter of dark energy are obtained. We shall show that this model can describe the dynamical evolution of fraction parameter of dark energy in all epochs. Also we find the EoS parameter can cross the phantom divide line by suitable choices of parameters without any mines kinetic energy term.     

Probing the dark side of the Universe with weak gravitational lensing effects

Arising from gravitational deflections of light rays by large-scale structures in the Universe, weak-lensing effects have been recognized as one of the most important probes in cosmological studies. In this paper, we review the main progress in weak-lensing analyses, and discuss the challenges in future investigations aiming to understand the dark side of the Universe with unprecedented precisions.     

Anisotropic dark energy stars

A model of compact object coupled to inhomogeneous anisotropic dark energy is studied. It is assumed a variable dark energy that suffers a phase transition at a critical density. The anisotropic Λ-Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equations are integrated to know the structure of these objects. The anisotropy is concentrated on a thin shell where the phase transition takes place, while the rest of the star remains isotropic. The family of solutions obtained depends on the coupling parameter between the dark energy and the fermionic matter. The solutions share several features in common with the gravastar model. There is a critical coupling parameter that gives non-singular black hole solutions. The mass-radius relations are studied as well as the internal structure of the compact objects. The hydrodynamic stability of the models is analyzed using a standard test from the mass-radius relation. For each permissible value of the coupling parameter there is a maximum mass, so the existence of black holes is unavoidable within this model.     

On model selection forecasting, dark energy and modified gravity

The Fisher matrix approach allows one to calculate in advance how well a given experiment will be able to estimate model parameters, and has been an invaluable tool in experimental design. In the same spirit, we present here a method to predict how well a given experiment can distinguish between different models, regardless of their parameters. From a Bayesian viewpoint, this involves computation of the Bayesian evidence. In this paper, we generalize the Fisher matrix approach from the context of parameter fitting to that of model testing, and show how the expected evidence can be computed under the same simplifying assumption of a Gaussian likelihood as the Fisher matrix approach for parameter estimation. With this 'Laplace approximation' all that is needed to compute the expected evidence is the Fisher matrix itself. We illustrate the method with a study of how well upcoming and planned experiments should perform at distinguishing between dark energy models and modified gravity theories. In particular, we consider the combination of 3D weak lensing, for which planned and proposed wide-field multiband imaging surveys will provide suitable data, and probes of the expansion history of the Universe, such as proposed supernova and baryonic acoustic oscillations surveys. We find that proposed large-scale weak-lensing surveys from space should be able readily to distinguish General Relativity from modified gravity models.     

Tachyonic teleparallel dark energy

Teleparallel gravity is an equivalent formulation of general relativity in which instead of the Ricci scalar R, one uses the torsion scalar T for the Lagrangian density. Recently teleparallel dark energy has been proposed by Geng et al. (in Phys. Lett. B 704, 384, 2011). They have added quintessence scalar field, allowing also a non-minimal coupling with gravity in the Lagrangian of teleparallel gravity and found that such a non-minimally coupled quintessence theory has a richer structure than the same one in the frame work of general relativity. In the present work we are interested in tachyonic teleparallel dark energy in which scalar field is responsible for dark energy in the frame work of torsion gravity. We find that such a non-minimally coupled tachyon gravity can realize the crossing of the phantom divide line for the effective equation of state. Using the numerical calculations we display such a behavior of the model explicitly.