International Journal of Modern Physics D

We review the recent literature on modified theories of gravity in the Palatini approach. After discussing the motivations that lead to consider alternatives to Einstein's theory and to treat the metric and the connection as independent objects, we review several topics that have been recently studied within this framework. In particular, we provide an in-depth analysis of the cosmic speed-up problem, laboratory and solar system tests, the structure of stellar objects, the Cauchy problem, and bouncing cosmologies. We also discuss the importance of going beyond the f(R) models to capture other phenomenological aspects related with dark matter/energy and quantum gravity.

Using the general formalism for spherical gravitational collapse developed in [P. S. Joshi and I. H. Dwivedi, Class. Quant. Grav.16 (1999) 41; P. S. Joshi and R. Goswami, Phys. Rev. D76 (2007) 084026], we investigate here the final fate of a spherical distribution of a matter cloud, where radial pressures vanish but tangential pressures are nonzero. Within this framework, firstly we examine the effect of introducing a generic small pressure in a well-known black hole formation process, which is that of an otherwise pressure-free dust cloud. The intriguing result we find is that a dust collapse that was going to a black hole final state could now go to a naked singularity final configuration, when arbitrarily small tangential pressures are introduced. The implications of such a scenario are discussed in some detail. Secondly, the approach here allows us to generalize the earlier results obtained on gravitational collapse with nonzero tangential pressure, in the presence of a nonzero cosmological constant. Finally, we discuss the genericity of black hole and naked singularity formation in collapse with nonzero tangential pressure. The treatment here gives a unified and complete picture on collapse final states, in terms of black hole and naked singularity formation, generalizing the earlier results obtained for this class of collapse models. Thus the role of tangential stresses towards determining collapse end-states emerges in a straightforward and transparent manner in our treatment.

Considering the results from Hořava–Lifshitz (HL) theory, a more precise relation between the number of bits and area in the holographic system is proposed. With this corrected relation and Debye model, two modified Friedmann equations are derived from the Hawking temperature and the Unruh temperature separately in entropic force. These equations could be better in describing the whole evolution of the Universe.

There is a persistent state of confusion regarding the account of the quantum origin of the seeds of cosmological structure during inflation. The issue is the transition from the quantum uncertainties in the homogeneous and isotropic initial state, into the late-time "classical" anisotropies and inhomogeneities. There seems to be a widespread belief that decoherence addresses the issue in a satisfactory way. This view is taken, often implicitly, by most researchers working in the field. This can be seen most clearly in those accounts intended on facing the issue directly. For instance, a recent article [C. Kiefer and D. Polarski, arXiv: 0810.0087] argues just that, and presents a detailed explanation of the justifications. The explicit nature of that account will allow us to discuss the issue in detail. There are, of course, various other works that often indirectly address the issue with similar approaches (see Refs. 2–13). This type of arguments do not only implicitly assume that decoherence offers a satisfactory solution to the measurement problem in quantum mechanics, but also that, in particular, such approach is applicable to these quantum aspects of cosmology. We will review here, why do we, together with various other researchers in the field, consider that this assumption is not correct in general. Moreover as previously discussed in Refs. 22–26, we will argue that the cosmological situation is one where the measurement problem of quantum mechanics appears in a particular exacerbated form, and that, it is this, even sharper conundrum, that should be addressed when dealing with the inflationary account of the origin of the seeds of cosmic structure in the early Universe. We briefly discuss the ideas behind what we feel might be a promising approach to deal with this problem.

We apply the holographic principle and the equipartition law of energy to the apparent horizon of a Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe and derive the Friedmann equation describing the dynamics of the universe. We also show that the equipartition law of energy can be interpreted as the first law of thermodynamics at the apparent horizon. The consistency check shows that our derivation is correct for –1 < w < –(1/3), a value that matches the recent cosmological observations.

The two dominant components of the cosmic budget today, pressureles matter and dark energy, may or may not be interacting with each other. Currently, both possibilities appear compatible with observational data. We propose several criteria based on the history of the Hubble factor that can help discern whether they are interacting and whether dark energy is phantom or quintessence in nature.

We investigate the properties of rotating asymptotically flat black ring solutions in five-dimensional Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton gravity with the Kaluza–Klein coupling. Within the quasilocal formalism, the balance condition for these solutions is derived by using the conservation of the renormalized boundary stress–energy tensor, which is a new method proposed by Astefanesei and his collaborators. We also study the thermodynamics of unbalanced black rings. The conserved charges and the thermodynamical quantities are computed. Due to the existence of a conical singularity in the boundary, these quantities differ from the original regular ones. It is shown that the Smarr relation and the quantum statistical relation are still satisfied. However, we get an extra term in the first law of thermodynamics. As the balance condition is imposed this extra term vanishes.