Inflation and late-time accelerated expansion driven by $k$-essence degenerate dynamics

Abstract

We consider a k-essence model in which a single scalar field can be responsible for both primordial inflation and the present observed acceleration of the cosmological background geometry, while also admitting a nonsingular de Sitter beginning of the Universe (it arises from de Sitter and ends in de Sitter). The early one is driven by a slow-roll potential, and the late one is driven by a dynamical dimensional reduction process which freezes the scalar field in a degenerate surface, turning it into a cosmological constant. This is done by proposing a realizable stable cosmic time crystal, although giving a different interpretation to the ''moving ground stat'', in which there is no motion because the system loses degrees of freedom. Furthermore, the model is free of pathologies such as propagating superluminal perturbations, negative energies, and perturbation instabilities.

11 pages, 2 figures. Replaced to match published version

References in corpus (4)

• Class of viable modified $f(R)$ gravities describing inflation and the onset of accelerated expansion
• No-go theorem for k-essence dark energy
• Cyclic Cosmology and Geodesic Completeness
• Dynamical dimensional reduction in multi-valued Hamiltonians

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Dynamical systems of modified Gauss-Bonnet gravity: cosmological implications
• Form Invariance of Raychaudhuri equation in the presence of Inflaton-type fields
• A novel two-field pure K-essence for inflation, dark matter, dark energy and black holes
• Scalar fields, localized structures and the Starobinsky model
• Cuscuton-like contribution to dark energy evolution
• Black hole ringdown spectroscopy of curvature-coupled scalar and pseudoscalar fields
• Localized structures in two-field systems: exact solutions in the presence of Lorentz symmetry breaking and explicit connection with geometric constraints
• Geometric formulation of $k$-essence and late-time acceleration
• The stability of the de-Sitter universe in nonlocal gravity