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Winfried Zimdahl

Publications and source records attributed to Winfried Zimdahl.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources
arXiv2010

Transient cosmic acceleration from interacting fluids

Recent investigations seem to favor a cosmological dynamics according to which the accelerated expansion of the Universe may have already peaked and is now slowing down again \cite{sastaro}. As a consequence, the cosmic acceleration may be a transient phenomenon. We investigate a toy model that reproduces such a background behavior as the result of a time-dependent coupling in the dark sector which implies a cancelation of the "bare" cosmological constant. With the help of a statistical analysis of Supernova Type Ia (SNIa) data we demonstrate that for a certain parameter combination a transient accelerating phase emerges as a pure interaction effect.

astro-ph.CO↗
arXiv2008

Accelerated expansion through interaction

Interactions between dark matter and dark energy with a given equation of state are known to modify the cosmic dynamics. On the other hand, the strength of these interactions is subject to strong observational constraints. Here we discuss a model in which the transition from decelerated to accelerated expansion of the Universe arises as a pure interaction phenomenon. Various cosmological scenarios that describe a present stage of accelerated expansion, like the LCDM model or a (generalized) Chaplygin gas, follow as special cases for different interaction rates. This unifying view on the homogeneous and isotropic background level is accompanied by a non-adiabatic perturbation dynamics which can be seen as a consequence of a fluctuating interaction rate.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2008

Duality invariance and cosmological dynamics

A duality transformation that interrelates expanding and contracting cosmological models is shown to single out a duality invariant, interacting two-component description of any irrotational, geodesic and shearfree cosmic medium with vanishing three curvature scalar. We apply this feature to a system of matter and radiation, to a mixture of dark matter and dark energy, to minimal and conformal scalar fields, and to an enlarged Chaplygin gas model of the cosmic substratum. We extend the concept of duality transformations to cosmological perturbations and demonstrate the invariance of adiabatic pressure perturbations under these transformations.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2007

Interacting holographic dark energy

We demonstrate that a transition from decelerated to accelerated cosmic expansion arises as a pure interaction phenomenon if pressureless dark matter is coupled to holographic dark energy whose infrared cutoff scale is set by the Hubble length. In a spatially flat universe the ratio of the energy densities of both components remains constant through this transition, while it is subject to slow variations for non-zero spatial curvature. The coincidence problem is dynamized and reformulated in terms of the interaction rate. An early matter era is recovered since for negligible interaction at high redshifts the dark energy itself behaves as matter. A simple model for this dynamics is shown to fit the SN Ia data. The constant background energy density ratio simplifies the perturbation analysis which is characterized by non-adiabatic features.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2007

Dark Energy: A Unifying View

Different models of the cosmic substratum which pretend to describe the present stage of accelerated expansion of the Universe like the $Λ$CDM model or a Chaplygin gas, can be seen as special realizations of a holographic dark energy cosmology if the option of an interaction between pressurless dark matter and dark energy is taken seriously. The corresponding interaction strength parameter plays the role of a cosmological constant. Differences occur at the perturbative level. In particular, the pressure perturbations are intrinsically non-adiabatic.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

Holographic Dark Energy and Present Cosmic Acceleration

We review the notion of holographic dark energy and assess its significance in the light of the well documented cosmic acceleration at the present time. We next propose a model of holographic dark energy in which the infrared cutoff is set by the Hubble scale. The model accounts for the aforesaid acceleration and, by construction, is free of the cosmic coincidence problem.

hep-th↗
arXiv2005

Holographic dark energy and cosmic coincidence

In this Letter we demonstrate that any interaction of pressureless dark matter with holographic dark energy, whose infrared cutoff is set by the Hubble scale, implies a constant ratio of the energy densities of both components thus solving the coincidence problem. The equation of state parameter is obtained as a function of the interaction strength. For a variable degree of saturation of the holographic bound the energy density ratio becomes time dependent which is compatible with a transition from decelerated to accelerated expansion.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

Chaplygin gas with non-adiabatic pressure perturbations

Perturbations in a Chaplygin gas, characterized by an equation of state $p = -A/ρ$, may acquire non-adiabatic contributions if spatial variations of the parameter $A$ are admitted. This feature is shown to be related to a specific internal structure of the Chaplygin gas. We investigate how perturbations of this type modify the adiabatic sound speed and influence the time dependence of the gravitational potential which gives rise to the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect in the anisotropy spectrum of the cosmic microwave background.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

Optical metrics and birefringence of anisotropic media

The material tensor of linear response in electrodynamics is constructed out of products of two symmetric second rank tensor fields which in the approximation of geometrical optics and for uniaxial symmetry reduce to "optical" metrics, describing the phenomenon of birefringence. This representation is interpreted in the context of an underlying internal geometrical structure according to which the symmetric tensor fields are vectorial elements of an associated two-dimensional space.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2005

Anisotropic cosmological models with non-minimally coupled magnetic field

Motivated by the structure of one-loop vacuum polarization effects in curved spacetime we discuss a non-minimal extension of the Einstein-Maxwell equations. This formalism is applied to Bianchi I models with magnetic field. We obtain several exact solutions of the non-minimal system including those which describe an isotropization process. We show that there are inflationary solutions in which the cosmological constant is determined by the non-minimal coupling parameters. Furthermore, we find an isotropic de Sitter solution characterized by a "screening" of the magnetic field as a consequence of the non-minimal coupling.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

The Maxwell--Boltzmann gas with non-standard self--interactions: a novel approach to galactic dark matter

Using relativistic kinetic theory, we study spherically symmetric, static equilibrium configurations of a collisionless Maxwell-Boltzmann gas with non-standard self-interactions, modelled by an effective one--particle force. The resulting set of equilibrium conditions represents a generalization of the classical Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkov equations. We specify these conditions for two types of Lorentz--like forces: one coupled to the 4-acceleration and the 4--velocity and the other one coupled to the Riemann tensor. We investigate the weak field limits in each case and show that they lead to various Newtonian type configurations that are different from the usual isothermal sphere characterizing the conventional Newtonian Maxwell--Boltzmann gas. These configurations could provide a plausible phenomenological and theoretical description of galactic dark matter halo structures. We show how the self--interaction may act phenomenologically as an effective cosmological constant and discuss possible connections with Modified Newtonian Dynamics(MOND).

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

Exact solutions for the interacting tachyonic-dark matter system

We find exact solutions leading to power law accelerated expansion for a homogeneous, isotropic and spatially flat universe, dominated by an interacting mixture of cold dark matter and a tachyonic field such that the ratio of the energy densities of both components at late times is constant and no coincidence problem arises.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2004

CMB constraints on interacting cosmological models

Non-canonical scaling of the form $ρ_{x} \propto ρ_{m} a^ξ$, where $ρ_{x}$ and $ρ_{m}$ are the energy densities of dark energy and dark matter, respectively, provides a natural way to address the coincidence problem -why the two densities are comparable today. This non-canonical scaling is achieved by a suitable interaction between the dark components. We study the observational constraints imposed on such models from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy spectrum. Using the recent WMAP results for the location of the CMB peaks, we determine the admissible parameter space and find that interacting models are well consistent with current observational bounds.

astro-ph↗
arXiv2003

Statefinder parameters for interacting dark energy

We argue that the recently introduced "statefinder parameters" (Sahni et al., JETP Lett. 77, 201 (2003)), that include the third derivative of the cosmic scale factor, are useful tools to characterize interacting quitessence models. We specify the statefinder parameters for two classes of models that solve, or at least alleviate, the coincidence problem.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2003

On homothetic cosmological dynamics

We consider the homogeneous and isotropic cosmological fluid dynamics which is compatible with a homothetic, timelike motion, equivalent to an equation of state $ρ+ 3P = 0$. By splitting the total pressure $P$ into the sum of an equilibrium part $p$ and a non-equilibrium part $Π$, we find that on thermodynamical grounds this split is necessarily given by $p = ρ$ and $Π= - (4/3)ρ$, corresponding to a dissipative stiff (Zel'dovich) fluid.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2003

Parametric phenomena of the particle dynamics in a periodic gravitational wave field

We establish exactly solvable models for the motion of neutral particles, electrically charged point and spin particles (U(1) symmetry), isospin particles (SU(2) symmetry), and particles with color charges (SU(3) symmetry) in a gravitational wave background. Special attention is devoted to parametric effects induced by the gravitational field. In particular, we discuss parametric instabilities of the particle motion and parametric oscillations of the vectors of spin, isospin, and color charge.

gr-qc↗
arXiv2003

Curvature force and dark energy

A curvature self-interaction of the cosmic gas is shown to mimic a cosmological constant or other forms of dark energy, such as a rolling tachyon condensate or a Chaplygin gas. Any given Hubble rate and deceleration parameter can be traced back to the action of an effective curvature force on the gas particles. This force self-consistently reacts back on the cosmological dynamics. The links between an imperfect fluid description, a kinetic description with effective antifriction forces, and curvature forces, which represent a non-minimal coupling of gravity to matter, are established.

astro-ph↗