Phase space geometry in scalar-tensor cosmology (Q2484465)

In the past, there were a lot of reasons for considering scalar-tensor theories, also to solve cosmological problems. Renewed interest in scalar-tensor cosmology has been motivated by scenarios of inflation in the early universe and models of dark matter trying to explain the present acceleration of the universe. Although, from the point of view of the geometrical fundamentals, a scalar tensor theory is one of most simple extensions of general relativity theory, the solution of the field equations often is very complicated. Therefore, even with the simplifying symmetry assumption of the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) model, the field equations allowed only for a few exact solutions. Thus, a phase space picture is very useful for a qualitative description of the dynamics of these models. In the present paper, the author focuses on FLRW models which are described by an action integral containing ordinary fluid matter, the metric, and the gravitational Brans-Dicke-like scalar field \(f\) self-interacting through the potential \(V(f)\). Since generally one has two independent second-order differential equations for this cosmology, the wave equation for the scalar \(f\) and the scale factor \(a\) occurring in the FLRW metric, the phase space is a three-dimensional curved hypersurface imbedded in the four-dimensional space. A reduction to a two-dimensional phase space is performed when possible. In these situations the phase space is usually a two-dimensional curved surface embedded in a three-dimensional space and composed of two sheets attached to each other along the boundary of a region forbidden to the dynamics. The orbits of the solution can change a sheet only by passing through points of this boundary. However, there are scenarios in which the orbits are forced to stay in one of the sheets. -- The results obtained are independent of the choice of the coupling functions of the theory and, partly, also of the potential. As mentioned by the author, a more detailed discussion of the dynamics requires the specification of \(V(f)\) and the function \(w(f)\) coupling metric and scalar potential.