Narrow Results

In this paper, we interpret the dark energy as an effect caused by small-scale inhomogeneities of the universe with the use of the spatial averaged approach of Buchert [Gen. Relat. Gravit. 32, 105 (2000); 33, 1381 (2001)]. The model considered here adopts the Chevallier–Polarski–Linder (CPL) parametrizations of the equation of state of the effective perfect fluid from the backreaction effect. Thanks to the effective geometry introduced by Larena et al. [Phys. Rev. D 79, 083011 (2009)] in their previous work, we confront such backreaction model with the latest type Ia supernova and Hubble parameter observations, coming out with the results that reveal the difference between the Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker model and backreaction model.

In a dilaton gravity model, we revisit the calculation of the temperature of an evaporating black hole that is initially formed by a shock wave, taking into account the quantum backreaction. Based on the holographic principle, along with the assumption of a boundary equation of motion, we show that the black hole energy is maintained for a while during the early stage of evaporation. Gradually, it decreases as time goes on and eventually vanishes. Thus, the Stefan–Boltzmann law tells us that the black hole temperature, defined by the emission rate of the black hole energy, starts from zero temperature and reaches a maximum value at a critical time, and finally vanishes. It is also shown that the maximum temperature of the evaporating black hole never exceeds the Hawking temperature of the eternal AdS₂ black hole. We discuss physical implications of the initial zero temperature of the evaporating black hole.

We construct a self-consistent model which describes a black hole from formation to evaporation including the backreaction from the Hawking radiation. In the case where a null shell collapses, at the beginning the evaporation occurs, but it stops eventually, and a horizon and singularity appear. On the other hand, in the generic collapse process of a continuously distributed null matter, the black hole evaporates completely without forming a macroscopically large horizon nor singularity. We also find a stationary solution in the heat bath, which can be regarded as a normal thermodynamic object.

We discuss a sufficiently large four-dimensional Schwarzschild black hole which is in equilibrium with a heat bath. In other words, we consider a black hole which has grown up from a small one in the heat bath adiabatically. We express the metric of the interior of the black hole in terms of two functions: One is the intensity of the Hawking radiation, and the other is the ratio between the radiation energy and the pressure in the radial direction. Especially in the case of conformal matters we check that it is a self-consistent solution of the semiclassical Einstein equation, G_μν = 8πG〈T_μν〉. It is shown that the strength of the Hawking radiation is proportional to the c-coefficient, that is, the coefficient of the square of the Weyl tensor in the four-dimensional Weyl anomaly.

We study the cascade of Hawking emission spectrum from the event horizon in the presence of one loop backreaction effect in a black hole background. The space–time taken here is the modified Schwarzschild one. The analysis shows that it is possible to decrease the sparsity with the decrease in black hole mass. Moreover, at some particular value of mass, one has a continuous radiation cascade. This result is completely new and quite different from the usual one. An estimation of the mass for continuous one is also found. We see that the value is of the Planck mass order. In this process, it is observed that under a physical background, below a particular value of the mass, the Hawking radiation must stop and we have a remnant. This was absent in the earlier analysis.

We discuss the Buchert equations, which describe the average expansion of an inhomogeneous dust universe. In the limit of small perturbations, they reduce to the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker equations. However, when the universe is very inhomogeneous, the behavior can be qualitatively different from the FRW case. In particular, the average expansion rate can accelerate even though the local expansion rate decelerates everywhere. We clarify the physical meaning of this paradoxical feature with a simple toy model, and demonstrate how acceleration is intimately connected with gravitational collapse. This provides a link to structure formation, which in turn has a preferred time around the era when acceleration has been observed to start.

We study Hawking-like radiation in a Friedmann–Robertson–Walker (FRW) universe using the quasi-classical WKB/tunneling method, which pictures this process as a "tunneling" of particles from behind the apparent horizon. The correct temperature of the Hawking-like radiation from the FRW space–time is obtained using a canonical invariant tunneling amplitude. In contrast to the usual quantum-mechanical WKB/tunneling problem, where the tunneling amplitude has only a spatial contribution, we find that the tunneling amplitude for FRW space–time (i.e. the imaginary part of the action) has both spatial and temporal contributions. In addition we study backreaction and energy conservation of the radiated particles and find that the tunneling probability and the change in entropy, , are related by the relationship , which differs from the standard result, . By regarding the whole FRW universe as an isolated adiabatic system, the change in the total entropy is zero. Then, splitting the entropy between the interior and exterior parts of the horizon , we can explain the origin of the minus sign difference with the usual result: our is for the interior region, while the standard result from black hole physics is for the exterior region.

In this paper, the Buchert averaging of the Dust Shell Universe is explicitly carried out. The dynamical backreaction does not vanish in such a model. Instead, it acts as the possible source of the negative deceleration. However, the parameters of the model allowing negative deceleration lead to mean overdensities with r₂₀₀ > 10 h^-1 Mpc and peculiar velocities as high as the fifth part of the speed of light. With more realistic parameter values the averaged model behavior is close to Friedmannian.

In this paper, we study the effect of the quantum backreaction on Brans–Dicke cosmology in inflation era. We consider an inflaton field in the $D$-dimensional spacetime in the framework of Brans–Dicke model. We use a new notation for the Brans–Dicke field in terms of the dilaton field. Then we obtain the vacuum expectation value of the full energy–momentum tensor using WKB approximation of the mode functions which satisfy the equations of motion. The obtained vacuum expectation values of energy–momentum tensor are divergent. In order to renormalize it, we introduce a constant cut-off $\mathrm{\Omega }$. The vacuum expectation value of energy–momentum tensor is separated to the UV and IR parts by using $\mathrm{\Omega }$ cut-off. Then, we use the dimensional regularization method to eliminate divergences by introducing a counterterm action. Also, we calculate the IR contribution of the vacuum expectation value of energy–momentum tensor. Thus, we obtain a physically finite result for the quantum energy–momentum tensor. Finally, we find the effect of backreaction on scale factor.

Astronomical observations reveal hierarchical structures in the universe, from galaxies, groups of galaxies, clusters and superclusters, to filaments and voids. On the largest scales, it seems that some kind of statistical homogeneity can be observed. As a result, modern cosmological models are based on spatially homogeneous and isotropic solutions of the Einstein equations, and the evolution of the universe is approximated by the Friedmann equations. In parallel to standard homogeneous cosmology, the field of inhomogeneous cosmology and backreaction is being developed. This field investigates whether small scale inhomogeneities via nonlinear effects can backreact and alter the properties of the universe on its largest scales, leading to a non-Friedmannian evolution. This paper presents the current status of inhomogeneous cosmology and backreaction. It also discusses future prospects of the field of inhomogeneous cosmology, which is based on a survey of 50 academics working in the field of inhomogeneous cosmology.

We discuss the effect of quantum fields on classical background spacetimes which contain timelike singularities. We do so for the case that the background is a $(2+1)$-dimensional BTZ spacetime, whether corresponding to a rotating black hole ($M>0$) or to a naked conical singularity ($M<0$). In the black hole case, scalar quantum fields render its Cauchy horizon unstable, while for the conical geometry, they produce a horizon around the naked singularity. Thus, quantum effects improve the predictability of the spacetime acting as effective Cosmic Censors.

Few statements in cosmology can be made without assuming a cosmological model within which to interpret data. Statements about cosmic acceleration are no exception to this rule, and the inferred positive volume acceleration of our universe often quoted in the literature is valid in the context of the standard Friedmann–Lemaître–Robertson–Walker (FLRW) class of spacetimes. Using the Joint Light-curve Analysis (JLA) catalogue of supernovae Type Ia (SNIa), we examine the fit of a class of exact scaling solutions with dynamical spatial curvature formulated in the framework of a scalar averaging scheme for relativistic inhomogeneous spacetimes. In these models, global volume acceleration may emerge as a result of the nonlocal variance between expansion rates of clusters and voids, the latter gaining volume dominance in the late-epoch universe. We find best-fit parameters for a scaling model of backreaction that are reasonably consistent with previously found constraints from SNIa, CMB, and baryon acoustic oscillations data. The quality of fit of the scaling solutions is indistinguishable from that of the ΛCDM model and the timescape cosmology from an Akaike Information Criterion (AIC) perspective. This indicates that a broad class of models can account for the $z<\sim 1$ expansion history.

In this paper, we would like to obtain the effect of the quantum backreaction on inflationary Starobinsky cosmology in spatially flat $D$-dimensional Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe. For this purpose, first, we obtain the vacuum expectation value of energy–momentum tensor, which is separated into two parts, UV and IR. To calculate the UV contribution, we use the WKB approximation of the mode function of the equation of motion. Since the obtained value of this contribution of the vacuum expectation value of energy–momentum tensor is divergent, we should renormalize it. Therefore, by using the dimensional regularization and introducing a counterterm action, we eliminate divergences. After that, we calculate the contributions of IR part and trace anomaly. Thus, we obtain the quantum energy density and pressure during inflation era in this model. Finally, we can find the effect of backreaction on scale factor in inflation era, which leads to the new scale factor.

We explore the enhancement of an electromagnetic field in an inflationary background with an anti-conductive plasma of scalar particles. The scalar particles are created by Schwinger effect in curved spacetime and backreact to the electromagnetic field. The possibility of a negative conductivity was recently put forward in the context of the renormalization of the Schwinger induced current in de Sitter spacetime. While a negative conductivity enhances the produced magnetic field, we find that it is too weak to seed the observed intergalactic magnetic field today. This result on pair creation in inflationary scenario is however important for primordial scenarii of magnetogenesis as the presence of a conductivity alters the spectral index of the magnetic field. This also shows on a specific example that backreaction can increase the electromagnetic field and not only suppress it.

Astronomical observations reveal hierarchical structures in the universe, from galaxies, groups of galaxies, clusters and superclusters, to filaments and voids. On the largest scales, it seems that some kind of statistical homogeneity can be observed. As a result, modern cosmological models are based on spatially homogeneous and isotropic solutions of the Einstein equations, and the evolution of the universe is approximated by the Friedmann equations. In parallel to standard homogeneous cosmology, the field of inhomogeneous cosmology and backreaction is being developed. This field investigates whether small scale inhomogeneities via nonlinear effects can backreact and alter the properties of the universe on its largest scales, leading to a non-Friedmannian evolution. This paper presents the current status of inhomogeneous cosmology and backreaction. It also discusses future prospects of the field of inhomogeneous cosmology, which is based on a survey of 50 academics working in the field of inhomogeneous cosmology.

Backreaction in the cosmological context is a longstanding problem that is especially important in the present era of precise cosmology. The standard model of a homogeneous background plus density perturbations is most probably oversimplified and is expected to fail to fully account for the near-future observations of sub-percent precision. From a theoretical point of view, the problem of backreaction is very complicated and deserves careful examination. Recently, Green and Wald claimed in a series of papers to have developed a formalism to properly describe the influence of density inhomogeneities on average properties of the Universe, i.e., the backreaction effect. A brief discussion of this framework is presented, focussing on its drawbacks and on misconceptions that have arisen during the “backreaction debate”.

A phenomenological formalism is presented in which the apparent acceleration of the universe is generated by cosmic structure formation, without resort to Dark Energy, modifications to gravity, or a local void. The observed acceleration results from the combined effect of innumerable local perturbations due to individually virializing systems, overlapping together in a smoothly-inhomogeneous adjustment of the FRW metric, in a process governed by the causal flow of inhomogeneity information outward from each clumped system. After noting how common arguments claiming to limit backreaction are physically unrealistic, models are presented which fit the supernova luminosity distance data essentially as well as ΛCDM, while bringing several important cosmological parameters to a new Concordance. These goals are all achieved with a second-generation version of our formalism that accounts for the negative feedback of Causal Backreaction upon itself due to the slowed propagation of gravitational inhomogeneity information.

We numerically construct an one-parameter family of initial data of an expanding inhomogeneous universe model which is composed of regularly aligned black holes with an identical mass. We study the relation between the mean expansion rate of the 3-space, which corresponds to the Hubble parameter, and the mass density of black holes. The result implies that the same relation as that of the Einstein-de Sitter universe is realized in the limit of the large separation between neighboring black holes. The deviation of the spatial metric of the cosmological Newtonian N-body system from that of the black hole universe is found to be smaller than about 1% in a region distant from the particles, if the separation length between neighboring particles is 20 times larger than their gravitational radius. By contrast, the deviation of the square of the Hubble parameter of the cosmological Newtonian N-body system from that of the black hole universe is about 20% for the same separation length.