Appeasing the Phantom Menace?

TL;DR

This paper explores a modified gravity brane-world model with phantom matter and higher-order curvature terms, showing that such modifications can replace a big rip with a sudden singularity, and estimates its cosmic timing based on observations.

Contribution

It introduces a combined IR and UV modified gravity model with phantom matter, demonstrating the replacement of big rip singularity by a sudden singularity and estimating its occurrence time.

Findings

Replaces big rip with sudden singularity in the model

Determines the timing of the sudden singularity from observational data

Shows the impact of Gauss-Bonnet term and phantom matter on cosmic evolution

Abstract

An induced gravity brane-world model is considered herein. A Gauss-Bonnet term is provided for the bulk, whereas phantom matter is present on the brane. It is shown that a combination of infra-red and ultra-violet modifications to general relativity replaces a big rip singularity: A sudden singularity emerges instead. Using current observational data, we also determine a range of values for the cosmic time corresponding to the sudden singularity occurrence.