Braneworld models of dark energy

Abstract

We explore a new class of braneworld models in which the scalar curvature of the (induced) brane metric contributes to the brane action. The scalar curvature term arises generically on account of one-loop effects induced by matter fields residing on the brane. Spatially flat braneworld models can enter into a regime of accelerated expansion at late times. This is true even if the brane tension and the bulk cosmological constant are tuned to satisfy the Randall-Sundrum constraint on the brane. Braneworld models admit a wider range of possibilities for dark energy than standard LCDM. In these models the luminosity distance can be both smaller and larger than the luminosity distance in LCDM. Whereas models with d_L ≤ d_L(LCDM) imply w = p/ρ ≥ −1 and have frequently been discussed in the literature, models with d_L > d_L(LCDM) have traditionally been ignored, perhaps because, within the general-relativistic framework, the luminosity distance has this property only if the equation of state of matter is strongly negative (w < −1). Within the conventional framework, 'phantom energy' with w < −1 is beset with a host of undesirable properties, which makes this model of dark energy unattractive. Braneworld models, on the other hand, have the capacity to endow dark energy with exciting new possibilities (including w < −1) without suffering from the problems faced by phantom energy. For a subclass of parameter values, braneworld dark energy and the acceleration of the universe are transient phenomena. In these models, the universe, after the current period of acceleration, re-enters the matter-dominated regime so that the deceleration parameter q(t) → 0.5 when t >> t₀, where t₀ is the present epoch. Such models could help reconcile an accelerating universe with the requirements of string/M-theory.