arXiv subjects

N. Pinto-Neto

Publications and source records attributed to N. Pinto-Neto.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2020

Baryogenesis in cosmological models with symmetric and asymmetric quantum bounces

The baryon-antibaryon asymmetry (excess of matter over antimatter in our Universe), indicated by observational data from the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies, predictions of primordial Nucleosynthesis, and the absence of intense radiation from matter-antimatter annihilation, constitutes an unsolved puzzle in cosmology. Two mechanisms for baryon asymmetry have been proposed as extensions of the Standard Model of Particle Physics at high energies. They rely on new couplings involving the baryon number current, one with a scalar field, called Spontaneous Baryogenesis, and the other with space-time curvature, named Gravitational Baryogenesis. These two mechanisms are investigated in the context of many bouncing scenarios, either symmetric or asymmetric around the bounce. It is shown that the constraints on the free parameters of these scenarios, imposed to yield the observed baryon-to-entropy ratio, are mild, already containing the values compatible with other observational constraints coming from the features of the power spectra of cosmological perturbations. Hence, realistic bouncing models can yield the observed baryon-antibaryon asymmetry if one of the two mechanisms proposed takes place in nature.

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arXiv2020

Primordial Magnetogenesis in a Bouncing Universe

We investigate primordial magnetogenesis and the evolution of the electromagnetic field through a quantum bounce, in a model that starts in the far past from a contracting phase where only dust is present and the electromagnetic field is in the adiabatic quantum vacuum state. By including a coupling between curvature and electromagnetism of the form $RF_{μν}F^{μν}$, we find acceptable magnetic field seeds within the current observational constraints at 1 mega-parsec (Mpc), and that the magnetic power spectrum evolves as a power-law with spectral index $n_B=6$. It is also shown that the electromagnetic backreaction is not an issue in the model under scrutiny.

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arXiv2020

Cosmological models with asymmetric quantum bounces

In quantum cosmology, one has to select a specific wave function solution of the quantum state equations under consideration in order to obtain concrete results. The simplest choices have been already explored, in different frameworks, yielding, in many cases, quantum bounces. As there is no consensually established boundary condition proposal in quantum cosmology, we investigate the consequences of enlarging known sets of initial wave functions of the universe, in the specific framework of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation interpreted along the lines of the de Broglie-Bohm quantum theory, on the possible quantum bounce solutions which emerge from them. In particular, we show that many asymmetric quantum bounces are obtained, which may incorporate non-trivial back-reaction mechanisms, as quantum particle production around the bounce, in the quantum background itself. In particular, the old hypothesis that our expanding universe might have arisen from quantum fluctuations of a fundamental quantum flat space-time is recovered, within a different and yet unexplored perspective.

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arXiv2019

Regular Bouncing Solutions, Energy Conditions and the Brans-Dicke Theory

In general, to avoid a singularity in cosmological models involves the introduction of exotic kind of matter fields, for example, a scalar field with negative energy density. In order to have a bouncing solution in classical General Relativity, violation of the energy conditions is required. In this work, we discuss a case of the bouncing solution in the Brans-Dicke theory with radiative fluid that obeys the energy conditions, and with no ghosts.

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arXiv2018

Fermion Production in Bouncing Cosmologies

We address the issue of fermionic particle creation in cosmological bouncing models governed by General Relativity, but where the bounce itself takes place due to quantum effects. If the energy scale of the bounce is not very close to the Planck energy, the Wheeler-DeWitt approach can be used to furnish sensible singularity-free background models with a contracting phase preceding an expanding phase in which the fermions evolve. The fermionic fields considered are massive, neutral and minimally coupled to gravity. We are particularly interested in neutrinos, neutrons and heavy neutrinos motivated by theories beyond the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We perform a numerical analysis for a bouncing model containing radiation and a pressureless fluid. The results reveal that the fermionic production is very small, with no back-reaction, unless the fermions are very heavy with masses up to $10^9$GeV. Hence, investigations concerning baryogenesis in such bouncing models should either go beyond the minimal coupling between gravity and the fermionic fields considered here, or assume the existence of such heavy fermions as a starting point.

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arXiv2014

Covariant Bardeen Perturbation Formalism

In a previous work we obtained a set of necessary conditions for the linear approximation in cosmology. Here we discuss the relations of this approach with the so called covariant perturbations. It is often argued in the literature that one of the main advantages of the covariant approach to describe cosmological perturbations is that the Bardeen formalism is coordinate dependent. In this paper we will reformulate the Bardeen approach in a completely covariant manner. For that, we introduce the notion of pure and mixed tensors, which yields an adequate language to treat both perturbative approaches in a common framework. We then stress that in the referred covariant approach one necessarily introduces an additional hyper-surface choice to the problem. Using our mixed and pure tensors approach, we were able to construct a one-to-one map relating the usual gauge dependence of the Bardeen formalism with the hyper-surface dependence inherent to the covariant approach. Finally, through the use of this map, we define full non-linear tensors that at first order correspond to the three known gauge invariant variables $Φ$, $Ψ$ and $Ξ$, which are simultaneously foliation and gauge invariant. We then stress that the use of the proposed mixed tensors allows one to construct simultaneously gauge and hyper-surface invariant variables at any order.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

Comments on "Growth of Covariant Perturbations in the Contracting Phase of a Bouncing Universe" by A. Kumar

A recent paper by Kumar (2012) (hereafter K12) claimed that in a contracting model, described by perturbations around a collapsing Friedmann model containing dust or radiation, the perturbations can grow in such a way that the linearity conditions would become invalid. This conclusion is not correct due to the following facts: first, it is claimed that the linearity conditions are not satisfied, but nowhere in K12 the amplitudes of the perturbations were in fact estimated. Therefore, without such estimates, the only possible conclusion from this work is the well known fact that the perturbations indeed grow during contraction, which, per se, does not imply that the linearity conditions become invalid. Second, some evaluations of the linearity conditions are incorrect because third other terms, instead of the appropriate second order ones, are mistakenly compared with first order terms, yielding artificially fast growing conditions. Finally, it is claimed that the results of K12 are in sharp contrast with the results of the paper by Vitenti and Pinto-Neto (2012) (hereafter VPN12), because the former was obtained in a gauge invariant way. However, the author of K12 did not realized that the evolution of the perturbations were also calculated in a gauge invariant way in VPN12, but some of the linearity conditions which are necessary to be checked cannot be expressed in terms of gauge invariant quantities. In the present work, the incorrect or incomplete statements of K12 are clarified and completed, and it is shown that all other correct results of K12 were already present in VPN12, whose conclusions remain untouched, namely, that cosmological perturbations of quantum mechanical origin in a bouncing model can remain in the linear regime all along the contracting phase and at the bounce itself for a wide interval of energy scales of the bounce. (Abstract abridged)

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arXiv2013

Quantum-to-classical transition of primordial cosmological perturbations in de Broglie-Bohm quantum theory: the bouncing scenario

In a previous work we have exhibited a clear description of the quantum-to-classical transition of cosmological quantum fluctuations in the inflationary scenario using the de Broglie-Bohm quantum theory. These fluctuations are believed to seed the small inhomogeneities, which are then responsible for the formation of large scale structures. In this work we show that using the de Broglie-Bohm theory it is also possible to describe the quantum-to-classical transition of primordial perturbations which takes place around a bouncing phase, even if the latter is caused by quantum effects due to the quantization of the background geometry.

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arXiv2013

Quantum cosmology from the de Broglie-Bohm perspective

We review the main results that have been obtained in quantum cosmology from the perspective of the de Broglie-Bohm quantum theory. As it is a dynamical theory of assumed objectively real trajectories in the configuration space of the physical system under investigation, this quantum theory is not essentially probabilistic and dispenses the collapse postulate, turning it suitable to be applied to cosmology. In the framework of minisuperspace models, we show how quantum cosmological effects in the de-Broglie-Bohm's approach can avoid the initial singularity, and isotropize the Universe. We then extend minisuperspace in order to include linear cosmological perturbations. We present the main equations which govern the dynamics of quantum cosmological perturbations evolving in non-singular quantum cosmological backgrounds, and calculate some of their observational consequences. These results are not known how to be obtained in other approaches to quantum theory. In the general case of full superspace, we enumerate the possible structures of quantum space and time that emerge from the de Broglie-Bohm picture. Finally, we compare some of the results coming from the de Broglie-Bohm theory with other approaches, and discuss the physical reasons for some discrepancies that occur.

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arXiv2013

Quantum Cosmological Perturbations of Generic Fluids in Quantum Universes

In previous works, it was shown that the Lagrangians and Hamiltonians of cosmological linear scalar, vector and tensor perturbations of homogeneous and isotropic space-times with flat spatial sections containing a perfect fluid can be put in a simple form through the implementation of canonical transformations and redefinitions of the lapse function, without ever using the background classical equations of motion. In this paper, we generalize this result to general fluids, which includes entropy perturbations, and to arbitrary spacelike hyper-surfaces through a new method together with the Faddeev-Jackiw procedure for the constraint reduction. A simple second order Hamiltonian involving the Mukhanov-Sasaki variable is obtained, again without ever using the background equations of motion.

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arXiv2012

A Born-Infeld-like f(R) gravity

Several features of an $f(R)$ theory in which there is a maximum value for the curvature are analyzed. The theory admits the vaccuum solutions of GR, and also the radiation evolution for the scale factor of the standard cosmological model. Working in the Jordan frame, a complete analysis of the phase space is performed, and its results supported with examples obtainted by numerical integration. In particular, we showed that theory has nonsingular cosmological solutions which after the bounce enter a phase of de Sitter expansion and subsequently relax to a GR-like radiation-dominated evolution.

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arXiv2012

Dilaton Quantum Cosmology with a Schrodinger-like equation

A quantum cosmological model with radiation and a dilaton scalar field is analysed. The Wheeler-deWitt equation in the mini-superspace induces a Schrödinger equation, which can be solved. An explicit wavepacket is constructed for a particular choice of the ordering factor. A consistent solution is possible only when the scalar field is a phantom field. Moreover, although the wavepacket is time dependent, a Bohmian analysis allows to extract a bouncing behaviour for the scale factor.

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arXiv2012

The Wheeler-DeWitt Quantization Can Solve the Singularity Problem

We study the Wheeler-DeWitt quantum cosmology of a spatially flat Friedmann cosmological model with a massless free scalar field. We compare the consistent histories approach with the de Broglie-Bohm theory when applied to this simple model under two different quantization schemes: the Schrödinger-like quantization, which essentially takes the square-root of the resulting Klein-Gordon equation through the restriction to positive frequencies and their associated Newton-Wigner states, or the induced Klein-Gordon quantization, that allows both positive and negative frequencies together. We show that the consistent histories approach can give a precise answer to the question concerning the existence of a quantum bounce if and only if one takes the single frequency approach and within a single family of histories, namely, a family containing histories concerning properties of the quantum system at only two specific moments of time: the infinity past and the infinity future. In that case, as shown by Craig and Singh \cite{CS}, there is no quantum bounce. In any other situation, the question concerning the existence of a quantum bounce has no meaning in the consistent histories approach. On the contrary, we show that if one considers the de Broglie-Bohm theory, there are always states where quantum bounces occur in both quantization schemes. Hence the assertion that the Wheeler-DeWitt quantization does not solve the singularity problem in cosmology is not precise. To address this question, one must specify not only the quantum interpretation adopted but also the quantization scheme chosen.

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arXiv2012

Spherically Symmetric Inflation

It is shown in this letter that in the framework of an inhomogeneous geometry and a massive non self-interacting scalar field with spherical symmetry, one needs a homogeneous patch bigger than a dizaine of horizons in order to start inflation. The results are completly independent of initial conditions on the spatial distribution of the scalar field. The initial condition on the metric parameters are also justified. This is a generalization of the results obtained in Ref.[1], showing that their conclusions are rather robust.

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arXiv2009

Scalar Perturbations in Scalar Field Quantum Cosmology

In this paper it is shown how to obtain the simplest equations for the Mukhanov-Sasaki variables describing quantum linear scalar perturbations in the case of scalar fields without potential term. This was done through the implementation of canonical transformations at the classical level, and unitary transformations at the quantum level, without ever using any classical background equation, and it completes the simplification initiated in investigations by Langlois \cite{langlois}, and Pinho and Pinto-Neto \cite{emanuel2} for this case. These equations were then used to calculate the spectrum index $n_s$ of quantum scalar perturbations of a non-singular inflationary quantum background model, which starts at infinity past from flat space-time with Planckian size spacelike hypersurfaces, and inflates due to a quantum cosmological effect, until it makes an analytical graceful exit from this inflationary epoch to a decelerated classical stiff matter expansion phase. The result is $n_s=3$, incompatible with observations.

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arXiv2008

Bounce and wormholes

We investigate if theories yielding bouncing cosmological models also generate wormhole solutions. We show that two of them present sensible traversable static wormhole solutions, while for the third possibility such solutions are absent.

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arXiv2007

Spectra of primordial fluctuations in two-perfect-fluid regular bounces

We introduce analytic solutions for a class of two components bouncing models, where the bounce is triggered by a negative energy density perfect fluid. The equation of state of the two components are constant in time, but otherwise unrelated. By numerically integrating regular equations for scalar cosmological perturbations, we find that the (would be) growing mode of the Newtonian potential before the bounce never matches with the the growing mode in the expanding stage. For the particular case of a negative energy density component with a stiff equation of state we give a detailed analytic study, which is in complete agreement with the numerical results. We also perform analytic and numerical calculations for long wavelength tensor perturbations, obtaining that, in most cases of interest, the tensor spectral index is independent of the negative energy fluid and given by the spectral index of the growing mode in the contracting stage. We compare our results with previous investigations in the literature.

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arXiv2006

Cold black holes and conformal continuations

We study Einstein gravity minimally coupled to a scalar field in a static, spherically symmetric space-time in four dimensions. Black hole solutions are shown to exist for a phantom scalar field whose kinetic energy is negative. These ``scalar black holes'' have an infinite horizon area and zero Hawking temperature and are termed ``cold black holes'' (CBHs). The relevant explicit solutions are well-known in the massless case (the so-called anti-Fisher solution), and we have found a particular example of a CBH with a nonzero potential $V(ϕ)$. All CBHs with $V(ϕ) \not \equiv 0$ are shown to behave near the horizon quite similarly to those with a massless field. The above solutions can be converted by a conformal transformation to Jordan frames of a general class of scalar-tensor theories of gravity, but CBH horizons in one frame are in many cases converted to singularities in the other, which gives rise to a new type of conformal continuation.

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