RESEARCH
<< back
A Riccati equation based approach to isotropic scalar field cosmologies

T. Harko, F. S. N. Lobo, M. K. Mak

Abstract
Gravitationally coupled scalar fields varphi, distinguished by the choice of an effective self-interaction potential V(varphi), simulating a temporarily nonvanishing cosmological term, can generate both inflation and late time acceleration. In scalar field cosmological models the evolution of the Hubble function is determined, in terms of the interaction potential, by a Riccati type equation. In the present work, we investigate scalar field cosmological models that can be obtained as solutions of the Riccati evolution equation for the Hubble function. Four exact integrability cases of the field equations are presented, representing classes of general solutions of the Riccati evolution equation. The solutions correspond to cosmological models in which the Hubble function is proportional to the scalar field potential plus a linearly decreasing function of time, models with the time variation of the scalar field potential proportional to the potential minus its square, models in which the potential is the sum of an arbitrary function and the square of the function integral, and models in which the potential is the sum of an arbitrary function and the derivative of its square root, respectively. The cosmological properties of all models are investigated in detail, and it is shown that they can describe the inflationary or the late accelerating phase in the evolution of the universe.

Keywords
Riccati equation - isotropic scalar field - cosmology

International Journal of Modern Physics D
Volume 23, Number 7, Page 1450063_1
2014 May

>> ADS>> DOI

Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa Universidade do Porto Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade de Coimbra
Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia COMPETE 2020 PORTUGAL 2020 União Europeia