2013/07/31 by S. Basilakos, SPYROS BASILAKOS, J. A. S. Lima +3 · 1 citation
Physics and Astronomy · #Advanced Mathematical Theories and Applications #COSMIC cancer database #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark energy #De Sitter space #De Sitter universe #Inflation (cosmology) #Inflationary epoch #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #Spacetime #Vacuum energy #astro-ph.CO #gr-qc #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1142/s021827181342008x
8 pages, 1 figure. To appear in IJMPD. This essay received an honorable mention in the 2013 Essay Competition of the Gravity Research Foundation
arxiv created 2013/08/16 · openalex publication_date 2013/09/11 · arxiv updated 2015/06/16 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
After decades of successful hot big-bang paradigm, cosmology still lacks a framework in which the early inflationary phase of the universe smoothly matches the radiation epoch and evolves to the present "quasi" de Sitter spacetime. No less intriguing is that the current value of the effective vacuum energy density is vastly smaller than the value that triggered inflation. In this paper, we propose a new class of cosmologies capable of overcoming, or highly alleviating, some of these acute cosmic puzzles. Powered by a decaying vacuum energy density, the spacetime emerges from a pure nonsingular de Sitter vacuum stage, "gracefully" exits from inflation to a radiation phase followed by dark matter and vacuum regimes, and, finally, evolves to a late-time de Sitter phase.