2015/10/09 by E. A. Pashitskii, É. A. Pashitskiı̆, В. И. Пентегов +1 · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmological constant #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Curvature #Equation of state #Geometry #Mathematical physics #Phase transition #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #Scalar (mathematics) #Scalar curvature #Scalar field #Universe #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1134/s1063776116010076
published in Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Physics 122(1), 52-62 (Pleiades Publishing) · 10 pages, 6 figures; to be published in JETP V.149, No.1 (2016)
arxiv created 2015/10/09 · openalex publication_date 2016/01/01 · arxiv updated 2016/05/04 · openalex created_date 2016/06/24 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
We suggest that the Big Bang could be a result of the first-order phase transition driven by a change in the scalar curvature of the 4D spacetime in an expanding cold Universe filled with a nonlinear scalar field φ and neutral matter with an equation of state p = νε (where p and ε are the pressure and energy density of the matter, respectively). We consider the Lagrangian of a scalar field with nonlinearity φ4 in a curved spacetime that, along with the term–ξR|φ|2 quadratic in φ (where ξ is the interaction constant between the scalar and gravitational fields and R is the scalar curvature), contains the term ξRφ0(φ + φ+) linear in φ, where φ0 is the vacuum mean of the scalar field amplitude. As a consequence, the condition for the existence of extrema of the scalar-field potential energy is reduced to an equation cubic in φ. Provided that ν > 1/3, the scalar curvature R = [κ(3ν–1)ε–4Λ] (where κ and Λ are Einstein’s gravitational and cosmological constants, respectively) decreases with decreasing ε as the Universe expands, and a first-order phase transition in variable “external field” parameter proportional to R occurs at some critical value R c < 0. Under certain conditions, the critical radius of the early Universe at the point of the first-order phase transition can reach an arbitrary large value, so that this scenario of unrestricted “inflation” of the Universe may be called “hyperinflation.” After the passage through the phase-transition point, the scalar-field potential energy should be rapidly released, which must lead to strong heating of the Universe, playing the role of the Big Bang.