Cosmology with Negative Absolute Temperatures

Abstract

Negative absolute temperatures (NAT) are an exotic thermodynamical consequence of quantum physics which has been known since the 1950's (having been achieved in the lab on a number of occasions). Recently, the work of Braun et al (2013) has rekindled interest in negative temperatures and hinted at a possibility of using NAT systems in the lab as dark energy analogues. This paper goes one step further, looking into the cosmological consequences of the existence of a NAT component in the Universe. NAT-dominated expanding Universes experience a borderline phantom expansion ($w<-1$) with no Big Rip, and their contracting counterparts are forced to bounce after the energy density becomes sufficiently large. Both scenarios might be used to solve horizon and flatness problems analogously to standard inflation and bouncing cosmologies. We discuss the difficulties in obtaining and ending a NAT-dominated epoch, and possible ways of obtaining density perturbations with an acceptable spectrum.

14 pages, 3 figures

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Cited by in corpus (6)

• Cosmological FLRW phase transitions and micro-structure under Kaniadakis statistics
• Phase transitions, critical behavior and microstructure of the FRW universe in the framework of higher order GUP
• A solution to the initial condition problems of inflation : NATON
• Thermodynamics of a transient phantom scenario
• Ideal gas with a varying (negative absolute) temperature: An alternative to dark energy?
• Thermodynamic aspects of FLRW Universe in Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet domains