arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Diego Pavon.
By applying the generalized second law to the apparent horizon of a homogeneous and isotropic universe and imposing that the equation of state is no less than $-1$, it is seen that universes with either flat or closed spatial sections are consistent with the joint consideration of the aforesaid law and the dominant energy condition, but not so universes with hyperbolic spatial sections
We explore on the one hand, whether the well-known theorem of equipartition of energy also applies to physical systems in which gravity plays a non-negligible role, as is the case of cosmological horizons and, on the other hand, if the holographic principle holds for these systems. Furthermore, we find a direct connection between the partition function of the gravitating system and the metric of the gravitational field.
By examining whether black holes fulfill the theorem of equipartition of energy we find that the notion of degrees of freedom, previously introduced for cosmic horizons, is meaningful in the case of Schwarzschild and Kerr black holes. However, for Reissner-Nördstrom and Kerr-Newman black holes this notion fails.
Adopting the Landau-Lifshiftz method of classical fluctuations we determine the statistical average strength of the fluctuations of the energy flux on the apparent horizon of a homogeneous and isotropic universe described by Einstein gravity. We find that the fluctuations increase with the temperature of the horizon and decrease with its area, in accordance with the features of systems where gravity can be neglected. %is absent. We further find, on the one hand, that the fluctuations vanish in the cosmological constant dominated de Sitter expansion, and, on the other hand, that the domination of phantom fields is excluded. The reasonableness of the results we have obtained lend support to the view that the universe behaves as a normal thermodynamic system.
We consider the short period of cosmic expansion ranging from the end of the Planck era to the beginning of inflation and set upper and lower limits on the temperature of the radiation at the commencement of the inflationary phase.
Homogeneous and isotropic, nonsingular, bouncing world models are designed to evade the initial singularity at the beginning of the cosmic expansion. Here, we study the thermodynamics of the subset of these models governed by general relativity. Considering the entropy of matter, radiation and that the entropy of the apparent horizon is proportional to its area, we argue that these models do not respect the generalised second law of thermodynamics, also away from the bounce.
It may well happen that the two main components of the dark sector of the Universe, dark matter and dark energy, do not evolve separately but interact nongravitationally with one another. However, given our current lack of knowledge on the microscopic nature of these two components there is no clear theoretical path to determine their interaction. Yet, over the years, phenomenological interaction terms have been proposed on mathematical simplicity and heuristic arguments. In this paper, based on the likely evolution of the ratio between the energy densities of these dark components, we lay down reasonable criteria to obtain phenomenological, useful, expressions of the said term independent of any gravity theory. We illustrate this with different proposals which seem compatible with the known evolution of the Universe at the background level. Likewise, we show that two possible degeneracies with noninteracting models are only apparent as they can be readily broken at the background level. Further, we analyze some interaction terms that appear in the literature.
In the so-called unified dark fluid models, the dark sector gets simplified because dark matter and dark energy are replaced by a single fluid that behaves as the former at early times and as the latter at late times. In this short paper we analyze this class of models from the thermodynamic viewpoint. While the second law of thermodynamics is satisfied, the first two derivatives of the entropies of the apparent horizon and of the energy components suffer such a sharp oscillation that doubts are raised about the soundness of this class of models.
We propose, and constrain with the latest observational data, three model-independent parametrizations of the cosmic deceleration parameter $q(z)$. They are well behaved and stay finite at all redshifts. We construct them by fixing the value of $q$ at high redshift, $q(z \gg 1) = 1/2$ (as demanded by cosmic structure formation), and at the far future, $q(z = -1) = -1$, and smoothly interpolating $q(z)$ between them. The fixed point at $z = -1$ is not arbitrarily chosen; it readily follows from the second law of thermodynamics. This fairly reduces the ample latitude in parameterizing $q(z)$.
In this Letter we consider three future singularities in different Friedmann-Lema\^ıtre-Robertson-Walker scenarios and show that the universe departs more and more from thermodynamic equilibrium as the corresponding singularity is approached. Though not proven in general, this feature may characterize future singularities of homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies.
This paper studies whether the generalized second law of thermodynamics is fulfilled in the transition from a generic initial Einstein static phase to the inflationary phase, with constant Hubble rate, and from the end of the latter to the conventional era of thermal radiation dominated expansion. As it turns out, the said law is satisfied provided the radiation component does not largely contribute to the total energy of the static phase.
The two dominant components of the cosmic budget today, pressureles matter and dark energy, may or may not be interacting with each other. Currently, both possibilities appear compatible with observational data. We propose several criteria based on the history of the Hubble factor that can help discern whether they are interacting and whether dark energy is phantom or quintessence in nature.
We study a holographic cosmological model in which the infrared cutoff is set by the Ricci's length and dark matter and dark energy do not evolve on their own but interact non-gravitationally with each other. This greatly alleviates the cosmic coincidence problem because the ratio between both components does not vanish at any time. We constrain the model with observational data from supernovae, cosmic background radiation, baryon acoustic oscillations, gas mass fraction in galaxy clusters, the history of the Hubble function, and the growth function.
Based on perturbation theory, we study the dynamics of how dark matter and dark energy in the collapsing system approach dynamical equilibrium while interacting. We find that the interaction between dark sectors cannot ensure the dark energy to fully cluster along with dark, leading to the energy non-conservation problem in the collapsing system We examine the cluster number counts dependence on the interaction between dark sectors. Furthermore, we analyze how dark energy inhomogeneities affect cluster abundances. It is shown that cluster number counts can provide specific signature of dark sectors interaction and dark energy inhomogeneities.
It is argued that the $c^{2}$ term that appears in the conventional formula for holographic dark energy should not be assumed constant in general. Notwithstanding, there is at least an exception, namely, when the Ricci scale is chosen as the infrared cutoff length.
Under the assumption that cold dark matter and dark energy interact with each other through a small coupling term, $Q$, we constrain the parameter space of the equation of state $w$ of those dark energy fields whose variation of the field since last scattering do not exceed Planck's mass. We use three parameterizations of $w$ and two different expressions for $Q$. Our work extends previous ones.
We consider a cosmological scenario in which the expansion of the Universe is dominated by phantom dark energy and black holes which condense out of the latter component. The mass of black holes decreases via Hawking evaporation and by accretion of phantom fluid but new black holes arise continuously whence the overall evolution can be rather complex. We study the corresponding dynamical system to unravel this evolution and single out scenarios where the big rip singularity does not occur.
It is argued that cosmological models that feature a flow of energy from dark energy to dark matter may solve the coincidence problem of late acceleration (i.e., "why the energy densities of both components are of the same order precisely today?"). However, much refined and abundant observational data of the redshift evolution of the Hubble factor are needed to ascertain whether they can do the job.