Steep inflation followed by Born–Infeld reheating

In this paper, we investigate a scenario of variable gravity and apply it to\nthe unified description of inflation and late time cosmic acceleration dubbed\nquintessential inflation. The scalar field called "cosmon" which in this model\nunifies both the concepts reduces to inflaton at early epochs. We calculate the\nslow-roll parameters, the Hubble parameter at the end of inflation, the\nreheating temperature,the tensor-to-scalar ration and demonstrate the agreement\nof the model with observations and the Planck data.As for the post inflationary\ndynamics, cosmon tracks the background before it exits the scaling regime at\nlate times. The scenario gives rise to correct epoch sequence of standard\ncosmology, namely, radiative regime, matter phase and dark-energy. We show that\nthe long kinetic regime after inflation gives rise to enhancement of relic\ngravity wave amplitude resulting into violation of nucleosynthesis constraint\nat the commencement of radiative regime in case of an inefficient reheating\nmechanism such as gravitational particle production. Instant preheating is\nimplemented to successfully circumvent the problem. As a generic feature, the\nscenario gives rise to a blue spectrum for gravity waves on scales smaller than\nthe comoving horizon scale at the commencement of the radiative regime.\n

The late-time cosmic acceleration of the universe is explained in the framework of the Einstein-scalar-Gauss–Bonnet (GB) theory by considering different appropriate forms for the GB coupling parameter and the scalar field. The physical quantities such as the potential energy, the GB coupling parameter, the energy density, the pressure and the deceleration parameter are obtained in an exact parametric form of the volume scale factor of the universe. The behavior of the deceleration parameter shows a transition from the deceleration phase to the acceleration phase at the late times in agreement with the observational data. Finally, the GB energy density ratio is compared to the matter energy density and the scalar (the quintessence) field energy density in the early and late times.

We study the instability of a scalar field at the end of hybrid inflation, using both analytical techniques and numerical simulations. We improve previous studies by taking the inflaton field fully into account, and show that the range of unstable modes depends sensitively on the velocity of the inflaton field, and thereby on the Hubble rate, at the end of inflation. If topological defects are formed, their number density is determined by the shortest unstable wavelength. Finally, we show that the oscillations of the inflaton field amplify the inhomogeneities in the energy density, leading to local symmetry restoration and faster thermalization. We believe this explains why tachyonic preheating is so effective in transferring energy away from the inflaton zero mode.

In his 2005 review, Gravity and the Thermodynamics of Horizons, Paddy suggested that a vacuum in thermal equilibrium with a bath of radiation should have a gradually diminishing energy. We work through the consequences of this scenario, and find that a coupling between the vacuum and a bath of black-body radiation at the temperature of the horizon requires the Hubble rate, H, to approach the same type of evolution as in the “intermediate inflation” scenario, with \(H\propto t^{-1/3}\), rather than as a constant. We show that such behaviour does not conflict with observations when the vacuum energy is described by a slowly-rolling scalar field, and when the fluctuations in the scalar field are treated as in the “warm inflation” scenario. It does, however, change the asymptotic states of the universe. We find that the existence of the radiation introduces a curvature singularity at early times, where the energy densities in both the radiation and the vacuum diverge. Furthermore, we show that the introduction of an additional non-interacting perfect fluid into the space-time reveals that radiation can dominate over dust at late times, in contrast to what occurs in the standard cosmological model. Such a coupling can also lead to a negative vacuum energy becoming positive.

We investigate the gravitational wave background predicted by a two-scalar-field cosmological model that aims to unify primordial inflation with the dark sector, namely, late-time dark energy and dark matter, in a single and self-consistent theoretical framework. The model is constructed from an action inspired by several extensions of general relativity and string-inspired scenarios and features a nonminimal interaction between the two scalar fields, while both remain minimally coupled to gravity. In this context, we derive the gravitational wave energy spectrum over wavelengths ranging from today’s Hubble horizon to those at the end of inflation. We employ the continuous Bogoliubov coefficient formalism, originally introduced to describe particle creation in an expanding Universe, in analogy to the well-established mechanism of gravitational particle production and, in particular, generalized to gravitons. Using this method, which enables an accurate description of graviton creation across all cosmological epochs, we find that inflation provides the dominant gravitational wave contribution, while subdominant features arise at the inflation-radiation, radiation-matter, and matter-dark energy transitions, i.e., epochs naturally encoded inside our scalar field picture. The resulting energy density spectrum is thus compared with the sensitivity curves of the planned next-generation ground- and space-based gravitational wave observatories. The comparison identifies frequency bands where the predicted signal could be probed, providing those windows associated with potentially detectable signals, bounded by our analyses. Consequences of our recipe are thus compared with numerical outcomes and the corresponding physical properties are discussed in detail.

The expansion rate of the Universe deviates from its standard value when the total energy density includes contribution from a new scalar field apart from the radiation energy density. The non-trivial modifications incurred in the Boltzmann equations render the well known analytical solutions unsuitable in non standard scenario. In the present study we derive analytical expressions for the efficiency factor (which is nothing but solution of set of Boltzmann equations) using certain legible approximations. A fair degree of accuracy of these formulas have been observed by juxtaposing the analytical results with that obtained through numerical solution of Boltzmann equations. Faster expansion of the Universe results in decrement of the effective decay parameter which brings down the amount of washout of asymmetry due to inverse decay. Thus in non-standard cosmology scenario, a larger fraction of the asymmetry (generated at early epoch) is expected to survive till present epoch. Alteration of the cosmology does not affect the underlying particle physics model responsible for the generation of the CP asymmetry. Therefore starting from an identical particle physics model we will end up with a larger final baryon asymmetry in the non-standard scenario. It hints towards the possible relaxation of the lower bound of the lightest right handed neutrino mass required to produce adequate asymmetry which is in agreement with current experimental data.

We consider an isotropic and homogeneous universe in loop quantum cosmology (LQC). We assume that the matter content of the universe is dominated by dust matter in early time and a phantom matter at late time which constitutes the dark energy component. The quantum gravity modifications to the Friedmann equation in this model indicate that the classical big bang singularity and the future big rip singularity are resolved and are replaced by quantum bounce. It turns out that the big bounce and recollapse in the herein model contribute to a cyclic scenario for the universe. We then study the quantum theory of a massive, nonminimally coupled scalar field undergoing cosmological evolution from primordial bounce towards the late time bounce. In particular, we solve the Klein–Gordon equation for the scalar field in the primordial and late time regions, in order to investigate particle production phenomena at late time. By computing the energy density of created particles at late time, we show that this density is negligible in comparison to the quantum background density at Planck era. This indicates that the effects of quantum particle production do not influence the future bounce.

It is natural to ask what happened, between the end of inflation and the beginning of the known history. To answer that question, we have to make assumptions which may or may not be correct. Most importantly, we have to make an assumption about the energy density at the end of inflation. As we saw in Chap. 14, the energy density at the end of inflation might be anything up to 1064 times as big as at the beginning of the known history.

We propose a generalised de Sitter scale factor for the cosmology of early and late time universe, including single scalar field is called as inflaton. This form of scale factor has a free parameter $q$ is called as nonextensivity parameter. When $q=1$, the scale factor is de Sitter. This scale factor is an intermediate form between power-law and de Sitter. We study cosmology of such families. We show that both kinds of dark components, dark energy and dark matter simultaneously are described by this family of solutions. As a motivated idea, we investigate inflation in the framework of $q$-de Sitter. We consider three types of scenarios for inflation. In a single inflation scenario, we observe that, inflation ended without any specific ending inflation $\phi_{end}$, the spectral index and the associated running of the spectral index are %$ n_\mathrm{s} - 1 \sim -2\epsilon, \quad \alpha_\mathrm{s} \equiv 0 $. To end the inflation: we should have $q=\frac{3}{4}$. We deduce that the inflation ends when the evolution of the scale factor is $a (t) =e_ {3/4} (t) $. With this scale factor there is no need to specify $\phi_{end}$. As an alternative to have inflation with ending point, We will study q-inflation model in the context of warm inflation. We propose two forms of damping term $\Gamma$. In the first case when $\Gamma=\Gamma_0$, we show the scale invariant spectrum, (Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum, i.e. $n_s=1$) may be approximately presented by ($q=\frac{9}{10},~~N=70$). Also there is a range of values of $R$ and $n_s$ which is compatible with the BICEP2 data where $q=\frac{9}{10}$. In case $\Gamma=\Gamma_1V(\phi)$, it is observed that small values of a number of e-folds are assured for small values of $q$ parameter. For $q=\frac{9}{10}$ a range of values of $R$ and $n_s$ is compatible with the BICEP2 data.

Homogeneity and correlations in the observed CMB are indicative of some form of cosmological coherence in early times. Quantum coherence in the early universe would be expected to give space-like phase coherence to any effects sourced to those times. If dark energy de-coherence is assumed to occur when the rate of expansion of the relevant cosmological scale parameter in the Friedmann-Lemaitre equations is no longer supra-luminal, a critical energy density is immediately defined. It is shown that the general class of dynamical models so defined necessarily requires a spatially flat cosmology in order to be consistent with observed structure formation. The basic assumption is that the dark energy density which is fixed during de-coherence is to be identified with the cosmological constant. It is shown for the entire class of models that the expected amplitude of fluctuations driven by the dark energy de-coherence process is of the order needed to evolve into the fluctuations observed in cosmic microwave background radiation and galactic clustering. The densities involved during de-coherence which correspond to the measured dark energy density turn out to be of the electroweak symmetry restoration scale. In an inflationary cosmology, this choice of the scale parameter in the FL equations directly relates the scale of dark energy decoherence to the De Sitter scales (associated with the positive cosmological constants) at both early and late times.

We have explored the effects of percolation on the properties of supercapacitors with thin nanotube networks as electrodes. We find the equivalent series resistance, R(ESR), and volumetric capacitance, C(V), to be thickness independent for relatively thick electrodes. However, once the electrode thickness falls below a threshold thickness (∼100 nm for R(ESR) and ∼20 nm for C(V)), the properties of the electrode become thickness dependent. We show the thickness dependence of both R(ESR) and C(V) to be consistent with percolation theory. While this is expected for R(ESR), that the capacitance follows a percolation scaling law is not. This occurs because, for sparse networks, the capacitance is proportional to the fraction of nanotubes connected to the main network. This fraction, in turn, follows a percolation scaling law. This allows us to understand and quantify the limitations on the achievable capacitance for transparent supercapacitors. We find that supercapacitors with thickness independent R(ESR) and C(V) occupy a well-defined region of the Ragone plot. However, supercapacitors whose electrodes are limited by percolation occupy a long tail to lower values of energy and power density. For example, replacing electrodes with transparency of T = 80% with thinner networks displaying T = 97% will result in a 20-fold reduction of both power and energy density.

Using quantum corrections from massless fields conformally coupled to gravity, we study the possibility of avoiding singularities that appear in the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model. We assume that the universe contains a barotropic perfect fluid with the state equation p = ωρ, where p is the pressure and ρ is the energy density. We study the dynamics of the model for all values of the parameter ω and also for all values of the conformal anomaly coefficients α and β. We show that singularities can be avoided only in the case where α > 0 and β −1 (only a one-parameter family of solutions, but no a general solution, has this behavior at late times), the initial conditions of the nonsingular solutions at early times must be chosen very exactly. These nonsingular solutions consist of a general solution (a two-parameter family) exiting the contracting de Sitter phase and a one-parameter family exiting the contracting Friedmann phase. On the other hand, for ω < −1 (a phantom field), the problem of avoiding singularities is more involved because if we consider an expanding Friedmann phase at early times, then in addition to fine-tuning the initial conditions, we must also fine-tune the parameters α and β to obtain a behavior without future singularities: only a oneparameter family of solutions follows a contracting Friedmann phase at late times, and only a particular solution behaves like a contracting de Sitter universe. The other solutions have future singularities.

Utilization of spray pyrolyzed porous nickel cobaltite electrode as an advanced material for NiCo2O4@Graphite asymmetric supercapacitor device

This paper describes CosmoLattice, a modern package for lattice simulations of the dynamics of interacting scalar and gauge fields in an expanding universe. CosmoLattice incorporates a series of features that makes it very versatile and powerful: i) it is written in C++ fully exploiting the object oriented programming paradigm, with a modular structure and a clear separation between the physics and the technical details, ii) it is MPI-based and uses a discrete Fourier transform parallelized in multiple spatial dimensions, which makes it specially appropriate for probing scenarios with well-separated scales, running very high resolution simulations, or simply very long ones, iii) it introduces its own symbolic language, defining field variables and operations over them, so that one can introduce differential equations and operators in a manner as close as possible to the continuum, iv) it includes a library of numerical algorithms, ranging from O(δt2) to O(δt10) methods, suitable for simulating global and gauge theories in an expanding grid, including the case of ‘self-consistent’ expansion sourced by the fields themselves. Relevant observables are provided for each algorithm (e.g. energy densities, field spectra, lattice snapshots) and we note that, remarkably, all our algorithms for gauge theories (Abelian or non-Abelian) always respect the Gauss constraint to machine precision. Program summaryProgram Title::CosmoLatticeCPC Library link to program files:https://doi.org/10.17632/44vr5xssc6.1Developer's repository link:http://github.com/cosmolattice/cosmolatticeLicensing provisions: MITProgramming language: C++, MPINature of problem: The phenomenology of high energy physics in the early universe is typically characterized by non-linear dynamics, which cannot be captured accurately with analytical techniques. In order to fully understand the non-linearities developed in a given scenario, one needs to carry out lattice simulations. A number of public packages for lattice simulations have appeared over the years, but most of them are only capable of simulating scalar fields. However, realistic models of particle physics do contain other kind of field species, such as (Abelian or non-Abelian) gauge fields, whose non-linear dynamics can also play a relevant role in the early universe. Tensor modes representing gravitational waves are also naturally expected in many scenarios.Solution method:CosmoLattice represents a modern code for lattice simulations of scalar-gauge field theories in an expanding universe. It allows for the simulation of the evolution of interacting (singlet) scalar fields, charged scalar fields under U(1) and/or SU(2) gauge groups, and the corresponding associated Abelian and/or non-Abelian gauge fields. From version 1.1 onward, CosmoLattice also allows to simulate the production of gravitational waves. Simulations can be done either in a flat space-time background, or in a homogeneous and isotropic (spatially flat) expanding FLRW background. CosmoLattice provides symplectic integrators, with accuracy ranging from O(δt2) up to O(δt10), to simulate the non-linear dynamics of the appropriate fields in comoving three-dimensional lattices. The code is parallelized with MPI, and uses a discrete Fourier Transform parallelized in multiple spatial dimensions, which makes it a very powerful code for probing physical problems with well-separated scales. Moreover, the code has been designed as a ‘platform’ to implement any system of dynamical equations suitable for discretization on a lattice.

Note on the super-inflation in loop quantum cosmology