arXiv subjects

Orlando Luongo

Publications and source records attributed to Orlando Luongo.

At least 181 records · Page 10Linked to original sources

arXiv2013

Cosmographic Constraints and Cosmic Fluids

The problem of reproducing dark energy effects is reviewed here with particular interest devoted to cosmography. We summarize some of the most relevant cosmological models, based on the assumption that the corresponding barotropic equations of state evolve as the universe expands, giving rise to the accelerated expansion. We describe in detail the $Λ$CDM ($Λ$-Cold Dark Matter) and $ω$CDM models, considering also some specific examples, e.g., Chevallier-Polarsky-Linder, the Chaplygin gas and the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati cosmological model. Finally, we consider the cosmological consequences of $f(\mathcal{R})$ and $f(\mathcal{T})$ gravities and their impact on the framework of cosmography. Keeping these considerations in mind, we point out the \emph{model-independent} procedure related to cosmography, showing how to match the series of cosmological observables to the free parameters of each model. We critically discuss the role played by cosmography, as a \emph{selection criterion} to check whether a particular model passes or does not present cosmological constraints. In so doing, we find out cosmological bounds by fitting the luminosity distance expansion of the redshift, z, adopting the recent Union 2.1 dataset of supernovae, combined with the baryonic acoustic oscillation and the cosmic microwave background measurements. We perform cosmographic analyses, imposing different priors on the Hubble rate present value. In addition, we compare our results with recent PLANCK limits, showing that the $Λ$CDM and $ω$CDM models seem to be the favorite with respect to other dark energy models. However, we show that cosmographic constraints on $f(\mathcal{R})$ and $f(\mathcal{T})$ cannot discriminate between extensions of General Relativity and dark energy models, leading to a disadvantageous degeneracy problem.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Cosmographic analysis of the equation of state of the universe through Padé approximations

Cosmography is used in cosmological data processing in order to constrain the kinematics of the universe in a model-independent way, providing an objective means to evaluate the agreement of a model with observations. In this paper, we extend the conventional methodology of cosmography employing Taylor expansions of observables by an alternative approach using Padé approximations. Due to the superior convergence properties of Padé expansions, it is possible to improve the fitting analysis to obtain numerical values for the parameters of the cosmographic series. From the results, we can derive the equation of state parameter of the universe and its first derivative and thus acquire information about the thermodynamic state of the universe. We carry out statistical analyses using observations of the distance modulus of type 1a supernovae, provided by the union 2.1 compilation of the supernova cosmology project, employing a Markov chain Monte Carlo approach with an implemented Metropolis algorithm. We compare the results of the original Taylor approach to the newly introduced Padé formalism. The analyses show that experimental data constrain the observable universe well, finding an accelerating universe and a positive jerk parameter. We demonstrate that the Padé convergence radii are greater than standard Taylor convergence radii, and infer a lower limit on the acceleration of the universe solely by requiring the positivity of the Padé expansion. We obtain fairly good agreement with the Planck results, confirming the $Λ$CDM model at small redshifts, although we cannot exclude a dark energy density varying in time with negligible speed of sound.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Dark energy from Geometrothermodynamics

Geometrothermodynamics is a geometric theory which combines thermodynamics with contact and Riemannian geometry. In this work we use the formalism of geometrothermodynamics to infer cosmological models which predict the observed speed up. As a relevant consequence, our simple model shows dynamical properties which seem to fairly well describe the late time universe dynamics. To do so, we use geometric considerations about constant thermodynamic curvature and derive the model of a fluid which is expected to \emph{naturally} reproduce the dark energy effects. In particular, our approach reduces to the $Λ$CDM model in the limiting case of small redshift, providing however significative departures from $Λ$CDM as the universe expands. The main goal consists in interpreting our \emph{geometrothermodynamic fluid} as an energetic source and to explain the dark energy effects as emerging from the interplay between geometry and thermodynamics, providing a new interpretation of the observed positive acceleration.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Decoherence, Entanglement and Cosmic Evolution

The possible imprint of quantum decoherence, in the framework of cosmology, is here investigated. Particular attention is paid to the observational fact that entanglement could lead to the interaction of different eras of cosmic evolution. The role played by decoherence provides the existence of "quantum entanglement" between cosmological eras giving, as observational results, dynamical constraints on the corresponding cosmological models.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Modeling dark energy through an Ising fluid with network interactions

We show that the dark energy effects can be modeled by using an \emph{Ising perfect fluid} with network interactions, whose low redshift equation of state, i.e. $ω_0$, becomes $ω_0=-1$ as in the $Λ$CDM model. In our picture, dark energy is characterized by a barotropic fluid on a lattice in the equilibrium configuration. Thus, mimicking the spin interaction by replacing the spin variable with an occupational number, the pressure naturally becomes negative. We find that the corresponding equation of state mimics the effects of a variable dark energy term, whose limiting case reduces to the cosmological constant $Λ$. This permits us to avoid the introduction of a vacuum energy as dark energy source by hand, alleviating the coincidence and fine tuning problems. We find fairly good cosmological constraints, by performing three tests with supernovae Ia, baryonic acoustic oscillation and cosmic microwave background measurements. Finally, we perform the AIC and BIC selection criteria, showing that our model is statistically favored with respect to the CPL parametrization.

hep-th↗

arXiv2013

Cosmographic study of the universe's specific heat: A landscape for Cosmology?

We propose a method for constructing the specific heat for the universe by following standard definitions of classical thermodynamics, in a spatially flat homogeneous and isotropic spacetime. We use cosmography to represent the specific heat in terms of measurable quantities, and show that a negative specific heat at constant volume and a zero specific heat at constant pressure are compatible with observational data. We derive the most general cosmological model which is compatible with the values obtained for the specific heat of the universe, and show that it overcomes the fine-tuning and the coincidence problems of the $Λ$CDM model.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Dark energy from entanglement entropy

We show that quantum decoherence, in the context of observational cosmology, can be connected to the cosmic dark energy. The decoherence signature could be characterized by the existence of quantum entanglement between cosmological eras. As a consequence, the Von Neumann entropy related to the entanglement process, can be compared to the thermodynamical entropy in a homogeneous and isotropic universe. The corresponding cosmological models are compatible with the current observational bounds being able to reproduce viable equations of state without introducing {\it a priori} any cosmological constant. In doing so, we investigate two cases, corresponding to two suitable cosmic volumes, $V\propto a^3$ and $V\propto H^{-3}$, and find two models which fairly well approximate the current cosmic speed up. The existence of dark energy can be therefore reinterpreted as a quantum signature of entanglement, showing that the cosmological constant represents a limiting case of a more complicated model derived from the quantum decoherence.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Cosmological implications of Geometrothermodynamics

We use the formalism of Geometrothermodynamics to derive a series of fundamental equations for thermodynamic systems. It is shown that all these fundamental equations can be used in the context of relativistic cosmology to derive diverse scenarios which include the standard cosmological model, a unified model for dark energy and dark matter, and an effective inflationary model.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Cosmographic reconstruction of $f(\mathcal{T})$ cosmology

A cosmographic reconstruction of $f(\mathcal T)$ models is here revised in a model independent way by fixing observational bounds on the most relevant terms of the $f(\mathcal T)$ Taylor expansion. We relate the $f(\mathcal T)$ models and their derivatives to the cosmographic parameters and then adopt a Monte Carlo analysis. The experimental bounds are thus independent of the choice of a particular $f(\mathcal T)$ model. The advantage of such an analysis lies on constraining the dynamics of the universe by reconstructing the form of $f(\mathcal T)$, without any further assumptions apart from the validity of the cosmological principle and the analyticity of the $f(\mathcal T)$ function. The main result is to fix model independent cosmographic constraints on the functional form of $f(\mathcal T)$ which are compatible with the theoretical predictions. Furthermore, we infer a phenomenological expression for $f(\mathcal T)$, compatible with the current cosmographic bounds and show that small deviations are expected from a constant $f(\mathcal T)$ term, indicating that the equation of state of dark energy could slightly evolve from the one of the $Λ$CDM model.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2013

Constraints from Cosmography in various parameterizations

We use cosmography to present constraints on the kinematics of the Universe without postulating any underlying theoretical model a priori. To this end, we use a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis to perform comparisons to the supernova Ia union 2 compilation, combined with the Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the Hubble constant, and the Hubble parameter datasets. The cosmographic approach to our analysis is revisited and extended for new notions of redshift presented as alternatives to the redshift z. Furthermore, we introduce a new set of fitting parameters describing the kinematical evolution of the Universe in terms of the equation of state of the Universe and derivatives of the total pressure. Our results are consistent with the ΛCDM model, although alternative models, with nearly constant pressure and no cosmological constant, match the results accurately as well.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2013

Updated constraints on $f(\mathcal{R})$ gravity from cosmography

We address the issue of constraining the class of $f(\mathcal{R})$ able to reproduce the observed cosmological acceleration, by using the so called cosmography of the universe. We consider a model independent procedure to build up a $f(z)$-series in terms of the measurable cosmographic coefficients; we therefore derive cosmological late time bounds on $f(z)$ and its derivatives up to the fourth order, by fitting the luminosity distance directly in terms of such coefficients. We perform a Monte Carlo analysis, by using three different statistical sets of cosmographic coefficients, in which the only assumptions are the validity of the cosmological principle and that the class of $f(\mathcal{R})$ reduces to $Λ$CDM when $z\ll1$. We use the updated union 2.1 for supernovae Ia, the constrain on the $H_0$ value imposed by the measurements of the Hubble space telescope and the Hubble dataset, with measures of $H$ at different $z$. We find a statistical good agreement of the $f(\mathcal{R})$ class under exam, with the cosmological data; we thus propose a candidate of $f(\mathcal{R})$, which is able to pass our cosmological test, reproducing the late time acceleration in agreement with observations.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Cosmography and constraints on the equation of state of the Universe in various parametrizations

We use cosmography to present constraints on the kinematics of the Universe, without postulating any underlying theoretical model. To this end, we use a Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis to perform comparisons to the supernova Ia Union 2 compilation, combined with the Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the Hubble constant, and the Hubble parameter datasets. We introduce a sixth order cosmographic parameter and show that it does not enlarge considerably the posterior distribution when comparing to the fifth order results. We also propose a way to construct viable parameter variables to be used as alternatives of the redshift $z$. These can overcome both the problems of divergence and lack of accuracy associated with the use of $z$. Moreover, we show that it is possible to improve the numerical fits by re-parameterizing the cosmological distances. In addition, we constrain the equation of state of the Universe as a whole by the use of cosmography. Thus, we derive expressions which can be directly used to fit the equation of state and the pressure derivatives up to fourth order. To this end, it is necessary to depart from a pure cosmographic analysis and to assume the Friedmann equations as valid. All our results are consistent with the $Λ$CDM model, although alternative fluid models, with nearly constant pressure and no cosmological constant, match the results accurately as well.

astro-ph.CO↗

arXiv2012

From Black Hole quantization to universal scaling laws

Significative developments on the primordial black hole quantization seem to indicate that the structure formation in the universe behaves under a unified scheme. This leads to the existence of scaling relations, whose validity could offer insights on the process of unification between quantum mechanics and gravity. Encouraging results have been obtained in order to recover the observed magnitudes of angular momenta, peculiar radii and virialized times for large and small structures. In the cosmological regime, we show that it seems possible to infer the magnitude of the cosmological constant in terms of the matter density, in agreement with the observed values.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2012

Neutrino oscillations in the field of a rotating deformed mass

The neutrino oscillations in the field of a rotating deformed mass is investigated. The phase shift is evaluated in the case of weak field limit, slow rotation and small deformation. To this aim the Hartle-Thorne metric is used, which is an approximate solution of the vacuum Einstein equations accurate to second order in the rotation parameter $a/M$ and to first order in the mass quadrupole moment $q$. Implications on atmospheric, solar and astrophysical neutrinos are discussed.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Holographic dark matter and dark energy with second order invariants

One of the main goals of modern cosmology remains to summon up a self consistent policy, able to explain, in the framework of the Einstein's theory, the cosmic speed up and the presence of Dark Matter in the Universe. Accordingly to the Holographic principle, which postulates the existence of a minimal size of a physical region, we argue, in this paper, that if this size exists for the Universe and it is accrued from the independent geometrical second order invariants, it would be possible to ensure a surprising source for Dark Matter and a viable candidate for explaining the late acceleration of the Universe. Along the work, we develop low redshift tests, such as Supernovae Ia and kinematical analysis complied by the use of Cosmography and we compare the outcomes with higher redshift tests, such as CMB peak and anisotropy of the cosmic power spectrum. All the results indicate that the models presented here can be interpreted as unified models that are capable to describe both the dark matter and the dark energy.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Reconstructing the expansion history of the Universe with a one-fluid approach

Assuming that the Universe is filled by one single fluid, we present in the context of General Relativity a possible explanation for the acceleration of the Universe. We use ordinary thermodynamics and the fact that small matter perturbations barely propagate in our Universe, to derive a general solution for a single fluid in which the speed of sound vanishes. We find a model that contains $Λ$CDM as a special case, and is compatible with current observational data.

gr-qc↗

arXiv2011

Second order invariants and holography

Motivated by recent works on the role of the Holographic principle in cosmology, we relate a class of second order Ricci invariants to the IR cutoff characterizing the holographic Dark Energy density. The choice of second order invariants provides an invariant way to account the problem of causality for the correct cosmological cutoff, since the presence of event horizons is not an \emph{a priori} assumption. We find that these models work fairly well, by fitting the observational data, through a combined cosmological test with the use of SNeIa, BAO and CMB. This class of models is also able to overcome the fine-tuning and coincidence problems. Finally, to make a comparison with other recent models, we adopt the statistical tests AIC and BIC.

hep-th↗

arXiv2010

Cosmographic applications of Gamma Ray Bursts

In this work we present some applications about the use of the so-called Cosmography with GRBs. In particular, we try to calibrate the Amati relation by using the luminosity distance obtained from the cosmographic analysis. Thus, we analyze the possibility of use GRBs as possible estimators for the cosmological parameters, obtaining as preliminary results a good estimate of the cosmological density parameters, just by using a GRB data sample.

astro-ph.CO↗