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João Morais

Publications and source records attributed to João Morais.

24 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

Cosmic infinity: A dynamical system approach

Dynamical system techniques are extremely useful to study cosmology. It turns out that in most of the cases, we deal with finite isolated fixed points corresponding to a given cosmological epoch. However, it is equally important to analyse the asymptotic behaviour of the universe. On this paper, we show how this can be carried out for 3-forms model. In fact, we show that there are fixed points at infinity mainly by introducing appropriate compactifications and defining a new time variable that washes away any potential divergence of the system. The richness of 3-form models allows us as well to identify normally hyperbolic non-isolated fixed points.

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Interacting 3-form dark energy models: distinguishing interactions and avoiding the Little Sibling of the Big Rip

In this paper we consider 3-form dark energy (DE) models with interactions in the dark sector. We aim to distinguish the phenomenological interactions that are defined through the dark matter (DM) and the DE energy densities. We do our analysis mainly in two stages. In the first stage, we identify the non-interacting 3-form DE model which generically leads to an abrupt late-time cosmological event which is known as the little sibling of the Big Rip (LSBR). We classify the interactions which can possibly avoid this late-time abrupt event. We also study the parameter space of the model that is consistent with the interaction between DM and DE energy densities at present as indicated by recent studies based on BAO and SDSS data. In the later stage, we observationally distinguish those interactions using the statefinder hierarchy parameters $\{ S_{3}^{(1)}\,,\, S_{4}^{(1)}\} \,,\,\{ S_{3}^{(1)}\,,\, S_{5}^{(1)}\} .$ We also compute the growth factor parameter $ε(z)$ for the various interactions we consider herein and use the composite null diagnostic (CND) $\{ S_{3}^{(1)}\,,\,ε(z)\} $ as a tool to characterise those interactions by measuring their departures from the concordance model. In addition, we make a preliminary analysis of our model in light of the recently released data by SDSS~III on the measurement of the linear growth rate of structure.

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Coupled scalar fields in the late Universe: The mechanical approach and the late cosmic acceleration

In this paper, we consider the Universe at the late stage of its evolution and deep inside the cell of uniformity. At these scales, we consider the Universe to be filled with dust-like matter in the form of discretely distributed galaxies, a minimally coupled scalar field and radiation as matter sources. We investigate such a Universe in the mechanical approach. This means that the peculiar velocities of the inhomogeneities (in the form of galaxies) as well as fluctuations of other perfect fluids are non-relativistic. Such fluids are designated as coupled because they are concentrated around inhomogeneities. In the present paper we investigate the conditions under which a scalar field can become coupled, and show that, at the background level, such coupled scalar field behaves as a two component perfect fluid: a network of frustrated cosmic strings with EoS parameter $w=-1/3$ and a cosmological constant. The potential of this scalar field is very flat at the present time. Hence, the coupled scalar field can provide the late cosmic acceleration. The fluctuations of the energy density and pressure of this field are concentrated around the galaxies screening their gravitational potentials. Therefore, such scalar fields can be regarded as coupled to the inhomogeneities.

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The late Universe with non-linear interaction in the dark sector: the coincidence problem

We study the Universe at the late stage of its evolution and deep inside the cell of uniformity. At such a scale the Universe is highly inhomogeneous and filled with discretely distributed inhomogeneities in the form of galaxies and groups of galaxies. As a matter source, we consider dark matter (DM) and dark energy (DE) with a non-linear interaction $Q = 3\mathcal{H}γ\bar\varepsilon_{\mathrm{DE}} \bar\varepsilon_{\mathrm{DM}} / (\bar\varepsilon_{\mathrm{DE}} + \bar\varepsilon_{\mathrm{DM}})$, where $γ$ is a constant. We assume that DM is pressureless and DE has a constant equation of state parameter $w$. In the considered model, the energy densities of the dark sector components present a scaling behaviour with $\bar\varepsilon_{\mathrm{DM}} / \bar\varepsilon_{\mathrm{DE}} \sim \left({a_0} / {a} \right)^{-3(w+γ)}$. We investigate the possibility that the perturbations of DM and DE, which are interacting among themselves, could be coupled to the galaxies with the former being concentrated around them. To carry our analysis, we consider the theory of scalar perturbations (within the mechanical approach), and obtain the sets of parameters $(w,γ)$ which do not contradict it. We conclude that two sets: $(w=-2/3,γ=1/3)$ and $(w=-1,γ=1/3)$ are of special interest. First, the energy densities of DM and DE on these cases are concentrated around galaxies confirming that they are coupled fluids. Second, we show that for both of them, the coincidence problem is less severe than in the standard $Λ$CDM. Third, the set $(w=-1,γ=1/3)$ is within the observational constraints. Finally, we also obtain an expression for the gravitational potential in the considered model.

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$K$-essence model from the mechanical approach point of view: coupled scalar field and the late cosmic acceleration

In this paper, we consider the Universe at the late stage of its evolution and deep inside the cell of uniformity. At these scales, we can consider the Universe to be filled with dust-like matter in the form of discretely distributed galaxies, a $K$-essence scalar field, playing the role of dark energy, and radiation as matter sources. We investigate such a Universe in the mechanical approach. This means that the peculiar velocities of the inhomogeneities (in the form of galaxies) as well as the fluctuations of the other perfect fluids are non-relativistic. Such fluids are designated as coupled because they are concentrated around the inhomogeneities. In the present paper, we investigate the conditions under which the $K$-essence scalar field with the most general form for its action can become coupled. We investigate at the background level three particular examples of the $K$-essence models: (i) the pure kinetic $K$-essence field, (ii) a $K$-essence with a constant speed of sound and (iii) the $K$-essence model with the Lagrangian $bX+cX^2-V(ϕ)$. We demonstrate that if the $K$-essence is coupled, all these $K$-essence models take the form of multicomponent perfect fluids where one of the component is the cosmological constant. Therefore, they can provide the late-time cosmic acceleration and be simultaneously compatible with the mechanical approach.

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Scalar perturbations in the late Universe: viability of the Chaplygin gas models

We study the late-time evolution of the Universe where dark energy (DE) is parametrized by a modified generalized Chaplygin gas (mGCG) on top of cold dark matter (CDM). We also take into account the radiation content of the Universe. In this context, the late stage of the evolution of the universe refers to the epoch where CDM is already clustered into inhomogeneously distributed discrete structures (galaxies, groups and clusters of galaxies). Under these conditions, the mechanical approach is an adequate tool to study the Universe deep inside the cell of uniformity. To be more accurate, we study scalar perturbations of the Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric due to inhomogeneities of CDM as well as fluctuations of radiation and mGCG, the later driving the late-time acceleration of the universe. Our analysis applies as well to the case where mGCG plays the role of DM and DE. We select the sets of parameters of the mGCG that are compatible with the mechanical approach. These sets define prospective mGCG models. By comparing the selected sets of models with some of the latest observational data results, we conclude that the mGCG is in tight agreement with those observations particularly for a mGCG playing the role of DE and DM.

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