Galileons, phantom fields, and the fate of the Universe

TL;DR

This paper investigates how Galileon corrections influence the cosmological evolution of phantom and non-phantom fields, delaying singularities like Big Crunch and Big Rip, with implications for the Universe's fate.

Contribution

It demonstrates that Galileon corrections can delay cosmic singularities and modifies the growth of phantom energy, providing new insights into late-time cosmological dynamics.

Findings

Big Crunch is delayed by Galileon correction.

Phantom energy density grows more slowly with Galileon terms.

Delays in Big Rip occur for steep potentials like  power and exponential.

Abstract

In this paper we study cosmological dynamics of phantom as well as non-phantom fields with linear potential in presence of Galileon correction $(\partial_\mu\phi \partial^\mu\phi) \Box \phi$. We show that the Big Crunch singularity is delayed compared to the standard case; the delay crucially depends upon the strength of Galileon correction. As for the phantom Galileon, $\rho_{\phi}$ is shown to grow more slowly compared to the standard phantom delaying the approach to singularity. In case, $V\sim \phi^n, n>4$, Big Rip is also delayed, similar phenomenon is shown to take place for potentials steeper than the exponential.