Searcharxiv⌕ Search
Home/Archive/arXiv

arXiv · 2402.04091

Sudden cosmological singularities in Aether scalar-tensor theories

João Luís Rosa·Tom Zlosnik
View original source ↗Read source document ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

In this work we analyze the possibility of sudden cosmological singularities, also known as type-II singularities, in the background of a Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) geometry in an extension of General Relativity (GR) known as Aether scalar-tensor theories (AeST). Similarly to several scalar-tensor theories, we observe that sudden singularities may occur in certain AeST models at the level of the second-order time derivative of the scale factor. These singularities can either be induced by AeST's scalar field itself in the absence of a fluid matter component, or by a divergence of the pressure component of the fluid. In the latter case, one observes that the second-order time derivative of the scalar field $Q$ is also divergent at the instant the sudden singularity happens. We show that the sudden singularities can be prevented by an appropriate choice of the action, for which a divergence in the scalar field compensates the divergence in the pressure component of the matter fluid, thus preserving the regularity of the scale factor and all its time derivatives. For the models featuring a sudden singularity in the second-order time derivative of the scale factor, an analysis of the cosmographic parameters, namely the Hubble and the deceleration parameters, indicates that cosmological models featuring sudden singularities are allowed by the current cosmological measurements. Furthermore, an analysis of the jerk parameter favours cosmological models that attain a sudden singularity at a faster rate, up to a time of at most $t_s\sim 1.2 t_0$, where $t_0$ is the current age of the universe, and with negative values for the cosmological snap parameter.

Explore related subjects

gr-qc

Keep this discovery

BibTeXRIS

João Luís Rosa, Tom Zlosnik. 2024-02-06. Sudden cosmological singularities in Aether scalar-tensor theories. https://doi.org/10.1103/physrevd.109.104077

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↗