Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 1212.0341

The Hamiltonian formalism for scalar fields coupled to gravity in a cosmological background

Alex E. Bernardini·O. Bertolami
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

A novel routine to investigate the scalar fields in a cosmological context is discussed in the framework of the Hamiltonian formalism. Starting from the Einstein-Hilbert action coupled to a Lagrangian density that contains two components - one corresponding to a scalar field Lagrangian, ${\mathcal{L}}_{\phi}$, and another that depends on the scale parameter, ${\mathcal{L}}_{a}$ - one can identify a generalized Hamiltonian density from which first-order dynamical equations can be obtained. This set up corresponds to the dynamics of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models in the presence of homogeneous fields embedded into a generalized cosmological background fluid in a system that evolves all together isentropically. Once the generalized Hamiltonian density is properly defined, the constraints on the gravity-matter-field system are straightforwardly obtained through the first-order Hamilton equations. The procedure is illustrated for three examples of cosmological interest for studies of the dark sector: real scalar fields, tachyonic fields and generalized Born-Infeld tachyonic fields. The inclusion of some isentropic fluid component into the Friedmann equation allows for identifying an exact correspondence between the dark sector underlying scalar field and an ordinary real scalar field dynamics. As a final issue, the Hamiltonian formulation is used to set the first-order dynamical equations through which one obtains the exact analytical description of the cosmological evolution of a generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) with dustlike matter, radiation or curvature contributions. Model stability in terms of the square of the sound velocity, $c_{s}^{2}$, cosmic acceleration, $q$, and conditions for inflation are discussed.

Explore related subjects

gr-qchep-thmath-phmath.MP

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

Alex E. Bernardini, O. Bertolami. 2012-12-03. The Hamiltonian formalism for scalar fields coupled to gravity in a cosmological background. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aop.2013.07.003

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related papers

arXiv2026

Electrovacuum Black Hole Uniqueness

We prove the black hole uniqueness conjecture in the axially symmetric, stationary, electrovacuum setting, subject to the refined asymptotic analysis of the associated singular harmonic maps, which includes an analyticity hypothesis at the axes. More precisely, it is shown that any asymptotically flat solution of the Einstein--Maxwell equations in this class, with more than one black hole horizon component is either: Majumdar--Papapetrou, up to a duality rotation, in which case all logarithmic angle defects vanish, or every finite axis rod logarithmic angle defect is strictly negative and hence every interaction force is strictly attractive. The proof extends the singular harmonic map method used for vacuum Kerr uniqueness in [18].

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Constraining Modified Mass-to-Horizon Cosmology Through Primordial Inflationary Observables

We investigate slow-roll inflation in a modified cosmological framework inspired by a generalized mass-to-horizon relation (MHR), $M=\gamma {c^2 L^n}/{G}$, where $n$ is a real parameter and $\gamma$ a dimensional constant. Using Padmanabhan's emergence paradigm, we derive the modified Friedmann equations for a flat FRW universe and analyze the dynamics of a canonical scalar field (inflaton) under the slow-roll approximation. We study the resulting inflationary phenomenology for power-law and Starobinsky potentials. For power-law potentials, the MHR modification fails to reconcile these models with current CMB constraints on $r$ and $n_s$. In contrast, Starobinsky inflation exhibits significant sensitivity to deviations from $n=1$. A perturbative analysis ($n=1+\Delta$) yields corrections to inflationary observables. We observe that the scalar power-spectrum normalization, under a fixed-Starobinsky prescription, imposes the stringent constraint $0.960 \lesssim n \lesssim 1.040$ for $N=60$ efolds. This is considerably tighter than spectral-index bounds. Our results establish inflation, particularly Starobinsky-like models, as a sensitive probe of generalized horizon thermodynamics and departures from standard MHR scaling.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2026

Improving the Sensitivity of Gravitational Wave Detection with Weighted Conformal Prediction

In the last decade, kilometre-scale interferometric gravitational-wave detectors have observed hundreds of compact binary mergers, the majority of which are binary black holes. However, the data are noise-dominated, and multiple independent search algorithms (pipelines) are used to enhance sensitivity and improve robustness. Rather than the standard approach of selecting the most significant pipeline output, we combine the outputs from all pipelines using a conformal prediction-based framework to provide statistically rigorous confidence estimates for candidate events. While combining pipelines improves sensitivity and ranking robustness, it requires a principled statistical framework that remains valid as data properties evolve across observing runs. A key challenge is distribution shifts between simulated datasets used for training and calibration and the real, unlabelled, observations used for testing, which can invalidate coverage guarantees and bias confidence estimates. In this work, we address this challenge by incorporating likelihood-ratio reweighting into our conformal prediction framework to account for covariate shift. Using mock datasets containing simulated signals, we demonstrate that weighted conformal prediction restores well-calibrated coverage under covariate shift and increases the confidence of events near the detection threshold, recovering true signals that would otherwise be missed.

gr-qc↗