Einstein-Cartan gravity, matter, and scale-invariant generalization

We study gravity coupled to scalar and fermion fields in the Einstein-Cartan framework. We discuss the most general form of the action that contains terms of mass dimension not bigger than four, leaving out only contributions quadratic in curvature. By resolving the theory explicitly for torsion, we arrive at an equivalent metric theory containing additional six-dimensional operators. This lays the groundwork for cosmological studies of the theory. We also perform the same analysis for a no-scale scenario in which the Planck mass is eliminated at the cost of adding an extra scalar degree of freedom. Finally, we outline phenomenological implications of the resulting theories, in particular to inflation and dark matter production.

Scale-invariant alternatives to general relativity

Diego Blas Temino

We study the general class of gravitational field theories constructed on the basis of scale invariance (and therefore absence of any mass parameters) and invariance under transverse diffeomorphisms, which are the 4-volume conserving coordinate transformations. We show that these theories are equivalent to a specific type of scalar-tensor theories of gravity (invariant under all diffeomorphisms) with a number of properties, making them phenomenologically interesting. They contain, in addition to the dimensionless coupling constants of the original theory, an arbitrary dimensionful parameter Lambda(0). This parameter is associated with an integration constant of the equations of motion, similar to the arbitrary cosmological constant appearing in unimodular gravity. We focus on the theories where Newton's constant and the electroweak scale emerge from the spontaneous breaking of scale invariance and are unrelated to Lambda(0). The massless particle spectrum of these theories contains the graviton and a new particle-dilaton. For Lambda(0) = 0, the massless dilaton has only derivative couplings to matter fields and the bounds on the existence of a 5th force are easily satisfied. As for the matter fields, we determine the conditions leading to a renormalizable low-energy theory. If Lambda(0) not equal 0, scale invariance is broken. The arbitrary constant Lambda(0) produces a "run-away" potential for the dilaton. As a consequence, the dilaton can act as a dynamical dark energy component. We elucidate the origin of the cosmological constant in the class of theories under consideration and formulate the condition leading to its absence. If this condition is satisfied, dark energy is purely dynamical and associated to the dilaton.

2011

Technically natural dark energy from Lorentz breaking

Diego Blas Temino, Sergey Sibiryakov

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.

2011

Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters

Fabio Finelli, Jan Hamann, Julien Lesgourgues

This paper presents the first cosmological results based on Planck measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. We find that the Planck spectra at high multipoles (l greater than or similar to 40) are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter ACDM cosmology with a power-law spectrum of adiabatic scalar perturbations. Within the context of this cosmology, the Planck data determine the cosmological parameters to high precision: the angular size of the sound horizon at recombination, the physical densities of baryons and cold dark matter, and the scalar spectral index are estimated to be theta* = (1.04147 +/- 0.00062) x 10(-2), Omega(b)h(2) = 0.02205 +/- 0.00028, Omega(c)h(2) = 0.1199 +/- 0.0027, and n(s) = 0.9603 +/- 0.0073, respectively (note that in this abstract we quote 68% errors on measured parameters and 95% upper limits on other parameters). For this cosmology, we find a low value of the Hubble constant, H-0 = (67.3 +/- 1.2) km s(-1) Mpc(-1), and a high value of the matter density parameter, Omega(m) = 0.315 +/- 0.017. These values are in tension with recent direct measurements of H-0 and the magnitude-redshift relation for Type Ia supernovae, but are in excellent agreement with geometrical constraints from baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. Including curvature, we find that the Universe is consistent with spatial flatness to percent level precision using Planck CMB data alone. We use high-resolution CMB data together with Planck to provide greater control on extragalactic foreground components in an investigation of extensions to the six-parameter ACDM model. We present selected results from a large grid of cosmological models, using a range of additional astrophysical data sets in addition to Planck and high-resolution CMB data. None of these models are favoured over the standard six-parameter ACDM cosmology. The deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity is insensitive to the addition of tensor modes and to changes in the matter content of the Universe. We find an upper limit of r(0.002) < 0.11 on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. There is no evidence for additional neutrino-like relativistic particles beyond the three families of neutrinos in the standard model. Using BAO and CMB data, we find N-eff = 3.30 +/- 0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.23 eV for the sum of neutrino masses. Our results are in excellent agreement with big bang nucleosynthesis and the standard value of N-eff = 3.046. We find no evidence for dynamical dark energy; using BAO and CMB data, the dark energy equation of state parameter is constrained to be w = -1.13(-0.10)(+0.13). We also use the Planck data to set limits on a possible variation of the fine-structure constant, dark matter annihilation and primordial magnetic fields. Despite the success of the six-parameter ACDM model in describing the Planck data at high multipoles, we note that this cosmology does not provide a good fit to the temperature power spectrum at low multipoles. The unusual shape of the spectrum in the multipole range 20 less than or similar to l less than or similar to 40 was seen previously in the WMAP data and is a real feature of the primordial CMB anisotropies. The poor fit to the spectrum at low multipoles is not of decisive significance, but is an "anomaly" in an otherwise self-consistent analysis of the Planck temperature data.

Edp Sciences S A2014

Planck 2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters

Fabio Finelli, Jan Hamann, Julien Lesgourgues

Edp Sciences S A2014