Accelerated expansion from braneworld models with variable vacuum energy
Abstract
We study the acceleration of the universe as a consequence of the time evolution of the vacuum energy in cosmological models based in braneworld theories in 5D. A variable vacuum energy may appear if the size of the extra dimension changes during the evolution of the universe. In this scenario the acceleration of the universe is related not only to the variation of the cosmological term, but also to the time evolution of G and, possibly, to the variation of other fundamental “constants” as well. This is because the expansion rate of the extra dimensionappears in different contexts, notably in expressions concerning the variation of rest mass and electric charge. We concentrate our attention on spatially-flat, homogeneous and isotropic, brane-universes where the matter density decreases as an inverse power of the scale factor, similar (but at different rate) to the power law in FRW-universes of general relativity. We show that these braneworld cosmologies are consistent with the observed accelerating universe and other observational requirements. In particular, G becomes constant and Λ_{(4)} ≈ const × H^2 asymptotically in time. Another important feature is that the models contain no “adjustable” parameters. All the quantities, even the five-dimensional ones, can be evaluated by means of measurements in 4D. We provide precise constrains on the cosmological parameters and demonstrate that the “effective” equation of state of the universe can, in principle, be determined by measurements of the deceleration parameter alone. We give an explicit expression relating the density parameters Ω_{ρ}, Ω_Λ and the deceleration parameter q. These results constitute concrete predictions that may help in observations for an experimental/observational test of the model.
- Publication:
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General Relativity and Gravitation
- Pub Date:
- January 2005
- DOI:
- 10.1007/s10714-005-0003-5
- arXiv:
- arXiv:gr-qc/0401026
- Bibcode:
- 2005GReGr..37...53L
- Keywords:
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- Kaluza–Klein Theory;
- General relativity;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
- E-Print:
- References added, typos corrected