4.1. Flat Regions of the Effective Scalar Potential
In this section we will analyze the specific situation in which the parameters , and . In this sense, the theory is reduced to a canonical form for the two fields i.e., without k-essence terms in the Einstein frame.
From the effective potential
(see eq.(
29)) we have three infinitely large flat regions for large values of the fields
and
.
The inflationary epoch is realized for large positive values of
and
and it corresponds to the first flat region. In this context, we have that the effective potential in the case in which
reduces to
For the second flat region we can consider the situation in which we only have large negative
In the other flat region in which we only have large negative
In
Figure 1 we show a qualitative example for the effective potential in which is possible to appreciate the three flat regions.
The flat regions described by the potentials given by Eqs.(
49), (
50) and (
51) are responsible of the evolution of the inflationary era and the early and late dark epochs, respectively. In order to archive this history of the universe, we choose the ratio of the coupling constants in the original scalar potentials versus the ratio of the scale-symmetry breaking integration constants to satisfy
which makes the first flat region associated to the inflationary universe
much bigger than that of the early and late dark eras.
We note that using the tensor to scalar ratio
r together with the scalar power spectrum
, we have that the first flat region associated to the effective potential
is approximately [
44]
in units of
. Let us recall that, since we are considering units in which the constant
, then in the present case the Planck mass
.
For the situation in which the parameters
and
, the total energy density and pressure of the scalar fields
and
, are reduced to
in which the effective potential is
Besides, the scalar equations of motion for the scalar field
and
, can be written as
and
In order to analyze the unification from inflation to the dark sector, we have that in the early epoch the potential begins at and finishes at the lower value of the late dark energy.
4.2. Inflation: Slow Roll approximation and Perturbations
In this section we will study the dynamics and the cosmological perturbations during the inflationary scenario associated to the first flat region in which the effective potential is given by
, see Eq.(
49).
In order to analyze the inflationary dynamics during the early universe and because of the flatness of the effective potential, we can expect that the slow roll approximation is valid. In this sense, we can introduce the standard “slow-roll” parameters defined as [
40]:
and under the slow-roll approximation these parameters are
,
and satisfy
1. In this approximation, the
-equations of motion together with the flat (
) Friedmann Eq.(
46) simplify to
During the inflationary scenario the fields
and
evolve on the first flat region of
for large positive values of the fields (
49) and then we can assume that the effective potential during inflation can be approximated to,
here we have utilized the expansion of the effective potential given by eq.(
29) in the case in which
.
Introducing the standard definition of the number of
folds
where
denotes the scale factor at the end of the inflationary epoch, that is, at the end of inflation
, we can rewrite eq.(
60) using eq.(
61) as
and
respectively. From these two equations we find a relation between the scalar fields
and
given by,
Note that the symmetry breaking constants
and
disappear from this above differential equation. The solution of this equation becomes
where
C corresponds to a constant of integration. Notice that in the absence of the constant of integration
C , the integrated relation (
65) is scale invariant and should be regarded as an additional scale symmetry breaking constant. To avoid this extra scale symmetry breaking, in the following we will assume that the constant
.
Following Ref.[
39], we can consider an orthogonal transformation in which
, where the field
is invariant and
transforms under a scale transformation. Thus, we define two new scalar fields
and
as [
39]
We note that in this situation, the scale invariant combination
gets determined, which corresponds to fixing the scalar field
given by Eq.(
66) and this scalar field is scale invariant with which
Here we have used Eq.(
65).
Nevertheless, the scalar field
given by Eq. (
66), evolves in time. We notice that although we have broken the scale invariance, through the constants
and
, some of the remaining equations maintain the scale invariance. As we have noted, the integration constants
and
dropped from such equation. That is indeed the reason that the equation that relates the two scalars keeps the scale invariance, which is not valid for other equations. Additionally, using Eqs.(
66) and (
67), we find that the scalar field
in terms of the scalar field
can be written as
In order to establish that the term
for the transition from slow roll inflation to the second flat region, we need to satisfy that the ratio
. This condition take places since the term
from Eq.(
68) and then
is satisfied.
From Eqs.(
63) and (
68), we find that the relation between the scalar field
and the number of
folds
N results
where the constants
,
and
are defined as
respectively. However, we can get
using the ProductLog function [
59]. This function corresponds to a product logarithm , also called the Omega function or Lambert W function and it is a multivalued function. Thus, we obtain that the scalar field
as a function of the number of
e-folds from Eq.(
69) results in,
where
denotes an integration constant.
We mention that to find a real solution for the scalar field
it is required that the argument of the function ProductLog satisfies the condition
, see [
59].
Besides, considering Eqs.(
65) and (
66) we obtain that the new scalar field
results
where
is a constant given by
Thus, the effective potential associated to the new field
can be written as
Here we have used Eqs.(
61), (
65) and (
71), respectively.
Now, the inflationary stage reduces to a single field , such that the new equations associated to the new field are given by and =0, respectively.
As we have a single field
in our model, we can introduce the new slow roll parameters
and
related to the scalar field
defined by
By using the effective potential associated to the field
given by Eq.(
72), we find that the slow roll parameters become
Here we have utilized that the effective potential can be approximated to .
Besides, we can find the value of
at the end of the inflationary epoch
and it is characterized from the condition
(or equivalently
), which through (
74) results
On the other hand, in order to constraints the space-parameter in our model, we will analyze the scalar and tensor perturbations in the inflationary epoch associated to the single field
. In this way, from ref.[
49,
57] the power spectrum of the scalar perturbation
under the slow-roll approximation for the scalar field
is given by
and the scalar spectral index
is defined as
where the slow roll parameters
and
are given by eq.(
74).
Besides, it is well known that the generation of tensor perturbations during the early universe would generate gravitational waves. In this sense, the spectrum of the tensor perturbations
is given by[
49,
57]
and the tensor spectral index
can be written in terms of the slow parameter
as
.
An important observational quantity corresponds to the tensor-to-scalar ratio . We mention that these observational quantities should be fixed when the cosmological scale exits the horizon. In what follows the subscript * is used to denote the epoch in which the cosmological scale exits the horizon i.e., .
In this context, from Eq.(
76) we find that the power spectrum of the scalar perturbation
results
in which the quantity
is defined as
Also by using Eq.(
77) the scalar spectral index
becomes
Now, considering Eq.(
79) and assuming that the constant
, we obtain that the quantity
as a function of the power spectrum and the number of
e-folds can be written as
Additionally, using Eq.(
80) we obtain that the ratio
has a the real and positive solution given by
Also, we obtain that the tensor to scalar ratio
r in terms of the number of e-folds
N results
here we have considered eqs.(
78) and (
79).
By combining Eqs.(
80) and (
83), we obtain a relation to the parameter
given by
Besides, using Eqs.(
81) and (
84) we can find an expression for the parameter
given by
Here in these expressions we have used that .
In the situation in which
is small, we can consider for example the limit when the parameter
. In this case, we find that from Eq.(
84) gives us
assuming
and
, and from Eq.(
85) we have that
.
4.3. Introducing dust matter, including dark matter
In this section we will study the dynamics of the dark energy and dust matter that should include dark matter as a remnant of the inflationary epoch. At the end of the inflationary scenario there must be an epoch of particle creation that will generate dark matter as well as ordinary matter, this can be realized in different even in the case of one scalar field coupled to different measures [
60]. In this context, we consider a dark matter particles contribution, given in a scale invariant form by the matter action
given by
in which
corresponds to a constant that characterizes the strength to the coupling of
to
, coupling to the measure
, see Ref.[
39]. In relation to the matter Lagrangian density
we have
in which the quantities
and
are defined by the condition of scale invariance and the constant
corresponds to the mass parameter of the “
i-th" particle. Scale invariace specifies the coupling constants to be equal to
and
, respectively.
By using these conditions the presence of matter generates an effective potential for the scalar field
. This happens since there is an exponential of the scalar field
which multiplies a ¨density of matter¨contribution which is
independent, see Eq.(
87). In this way, the scalar field
coupling to matter contains the factor multiply
and then the potential associated to matter can be written as [
39]
Now, this potential is extremized in relation to the scalar field
and then we have
Different effects were found in a scale invariant two measure model of gravity, matter and one scalar field in Ref.[
61] to the elimination of the Fifth Force Problem, which the
, the ¨dilaton¨, since it is a massless field. Here the elimination of the Fifth Force Problem is also realized and we can arrange for this to happen when the scalar field
satisfies itself the above equation. In this sense, using Eqs.(
8) and (
22), which gives the value of
to
in the absence of matter which is again validated in the presence of matter when (
90) is satisfied, as shown in Ref.[
61] , since the combination
miraculously appears simultaneously in the equations of motion of the dilaton, the constrained equation and the anomalous, non canonical terms in the energy momentum tensor, that disappear when (
90) is satisfied. Thus, we obtain that the equation for
is given by
The Eq.(
91) gives the value of
to be constant and then solving this equation, we can obtain that the velocity of the scalar field
is zero i.e.
.
To find the value of the scalar field
we consider the change of variable
and then Eq.(
91) becomes
here we note that the field
drops from this equation. This happens since the field
undergoes a shift under the scale transformation. Thus, the field
is decoupled from matter, which implies the elimination of the 5th force.
The solution for the scalar field
from eq.(
91) or (
92) corresponds to a transcendental equation and we have not analytical solution. In order to find a solution for the scalar field
, we can consider that for very large value of
or equivalently
the dominating terms of eq.(
92) become
since the ratio
, then necessarily we have the quantity
. Thus using this value of
x, we find that the scalar field
at this point results
In the opposite limit in which the scalar field
or
, we have that the dominant terms of Eq.(
92) become
and then the value of the scalar field at this point
becomes
These values of the scalar fields
and
correspond to the minimum of the total potential associated to the second flat region
together with the matter potential
containing coupling to the scalar fields, see Eq.(
89).
In what follows of this section, we analyze the dynamics of the dark sector using the equations for the ratio of the two measures developed in Ref.[
39]. We mention that we analysis in the very flat region, there is also no inconsistency with
being a constant.
The Friedmann equation for this scenario can be written as
in which the energy density
related to the scalar fields
and
becomes
For the case of the energy density of the dark matter
we have
By considering Eq.(
29) in which
and assuming the region in which
and
, then the effective potential simplifies to
Using Eq.(
66) we find that the effective potential given by Eq.(
99) can be rewritten as a function of the single scalar field
results
Here we note that now the effective potential depends only of the scalar field .
In this way, the energy density related to the dark energy becomes
where we have considered that
, since, the scalar field
has been determined to a constant because of the extremization of the
matter induced potential, see eq.(
91).
To analyze the evolution of our model, we can assume that the first flat region after inflation takes place when where the effective potential in this region is , as supported by the calculation under the slow roll approximation in which .
In this form, the second flat region after the inflation is defined as
and then the effective potential given by eq.(
100) reduces to
.
From Eq.(
101) we note that the scalar field
corresponds to a massless field and then the evolution as a function of the scale factor
a becomes
where
corresponds to an integration constant. Here the quantity
, where
and
denote the scale factor and the speed of the scalar field in the first flat region after inflation of the effective potential defined as
.
The evolution of the scalar field
in terms of the scale factor in the first flat region after inflation can be found considering that
and then from Eq.(
102) we have,
where the Hubble parameter
H in terms of the scale factor is given by,
where
is the energy density related to the dark matter in the first flat region of the effective potential
. In this form, we obtain that the evolution of the scalar field
in terms of the scale factor results
Besides, the total EoS parameter
associated to dark matter and scalar fields becomes
where
w corresponds to the equation of state (EoS) or EoS parameter associated to the scalar fields. Thus we find that the total EoS parameter in terms of the scale factor yields
Also, the eq.(
107) can be rewritten as a function of the density parameter
by using the Friedmann equation in which
, where
and
correspond the densities parameters of different components in the first flat region and then the EoS parameter is given by
where the new scale factor
is defined as
and the parameter
denotes the rate
where
corresponds to the Hubble parameter in the first flat stage after inflation. Since the kinetic energy is defined as a positive quantity, then the condition for the quantity
is
.
Additionally, for our model we obtain that the density energy associated to dark energy
results
On the other hand, during the second flat regime after inflation related to the effective potential
, and in analogy to the before case (in which
), we have the Hubble parameter in terms of the scale factor in this region is given by
where
corresponds to the effective potential for very positive large scalar field
and it is given by
, from eq.(
100). Here, the value
denotes the dark energy of the matter at the present epoch in which the scale factor
.
As before, we find that the evolution of the scalar field in terms of the scale factor during this stage
Besides, we obtain that the total EoS parameter
related to dark matter and scalar fields during this scenario becomes
and as before, we can rewrite eq.(
112) as a function of the density parameter at present era
and then the total EoS parameter becomes
with the scale factor
and the quantity
corresponds to the rate
. Since the kinetic energy is a positive quantity, then we find that the condition for the parameter
. In particular, we have that the density parameter at the present related to dark energy
, such that
.
On other hand, we can find some estimations from the observational values on the parameter-space of the our model. In particular, for the second flat region after inflation in which the effective potential corresponds to , we can consider that the coupling constants and , where are the electroweak and Plank scales, respectively.
Thus, we have a very small vacuum energy density
given by
where the mass
and eq.(
114) corresponds to the right order of magnitude for the present epoch’s vacuum energy density[
62]. Thus, we can assume that the parameter
(in units of Planck mass to the fourth power). In particular, considering the inflationary constraint on the parameter
when
, we estimate that value of
. This suggests that when the parameter
is satisfied that the parameter
.