Cosmic anti-friction and accelerated expansion

Following a short discussion of some unresolved issues in the standard model of cosmology (considered to be a generic LCDM model with flat geometry and an early period of inflation), an update on the current state of research regarding the problem of negative energy is provided. Arguments are then given to the effect that traditional assumptions concerning the behavior of negative-action matter give rise to violations of both the principle of relativity and the principle of i...

The present paradigm in cosmology is the usual Big-Bang Cosmology in which two stages of accelerated expansion are incorporated: the inflationary phase in the very early universe which produces the classical inhomogeneities observed in the universe, and a second stage of acceleration at the present time as the latest Supernovae observations seem to imply. Both stages could be produced by a scalar field and observations will strongly constrain the microscopic lagrangian of any...

Measurements of the distances to SNe Ia have produced strong evidence that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating, implying the existence of a nearly uniform component of dark energy with negative pressure. We show that constraints to this mysterious component based upon large-scale structure nicely complement the SN Ia data, and that together they require Omega_X = (0.6,0.7) and w_X < -0.6 (95% cl), for the favored flat Universe. Other cosmological data support this c...

We investigate what current cosmological data tells us about the cosmological expansion rate in a model independent way. Specifically, we study if the expansion was decelerating at high redshifts and is accelerating now, without referring to any model for the energy content of the universe, nor to any specific theory of gravity. This differs from most studies of the expansion rate which, e.g., assumes some underlying parameterised model for the dark energy component of the un...

We present a novel theory of a unified dark sector, where late-time cosmic acceleration emerges from the dark matter superfluid framework. The system is described by a superfluid mixture consisting of two distinguishable states with a small energy gap, such as the ground state and an excited state of dark matter. Given their contact in the superfluid, interaction between those states can happen, converting one state into the other. This long range interaction within the super...

We argue that interactions in the dark sector may have a crucial impact on the cosmological dynamics. In particular, the future cosmic evolution may be very different from that predicted by the LCDM model. An example is a scenario in which the currently observed accelerated expansion is an interaction-induced transient phenomenon. We discuss such type of behavior on the basis of a two-fluid toy model.

Based on dramatic observations of the CMB with WMAP and of Type Ia supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based facilities, it is now generally believed that the Universe's expansion is accelerating. Within the context of standard cosmology, the Universe must therefore contain a third `dark' component of energy, beyond matter and radiation. However, the current data are still deemed insufficient to distinguish between an evolving dark energy component and the s...

The early cosmic inflation, when taken along with the recent observations that the universe is currently dominated by a low density vacuum energy, leads to at least two potential problems which modern cosmology must address. First, there is the old cosmological constant problem, with a new twist: the coincidence problem. Secondly, cosmology still lacks a model to predict the observed current cosmic acceleration and to determine whether or not there is a future exit out of thi...

In a recent paper (Vigoureux et al. Int. J. Theor. Phys. 47:928, 2007) it has been suggested that the velocity of light and the expansion of the universe are two aspects of one single concept connecting space and time in the expanding universe. It has then be shown that solving Friedmann's equations with that interpretation (and keeping c = constant) can explain number of unnatural features of the standard cosmology (for example: the flatness problem, the problem of the obser...

Recent cosmological observations suggest that nearly seventy per cent of the energy density in the universe is unclustered and has negative pressure. Several conceptual issues related to the modeling of this component (`dark energy'), which is driving an accelerated expansion of the universe, are discussed with special emphasis on the cosmological constant as the possible choice for the dark energy. Some curious geometrical features of a universe with a cosmological constant ...