Phase Portraits of general f(T) Cosmology

TL;DR

This paper employs dynamical system methods to analyze the phase space of general $f(T)$ cosmology, revealing diverse evolutionary behaviors of the universe, including standard expansion, exotic phenomena, and compatibility with observational data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel approach transforming $f(T)$ cosmological equations into a one-dimensional autonomous system, simplifying phase space analysis and exploring a wide range of cosmological behaviors.

Findings

$f(T)$ cosmology can replicate the universe's observed evolution.

The phase space analysis uncovers exotic behaviors like bounces and singularities.

A new viable $f(T)$ model aligns with observational data and is free of instabilities.

Abstract

We use dynamical system methods to explore the general behaviour of $f(T)$ cosmology. In contrast to the standard applications of dynamical analysis, we present a way to transform the equations into a one-dimensional autonomous system, taking advantage of the crucial property that the torsion scalar in flat FRW geometry is just a function of the Hubble function, thus the field equations include only up to first derivatives of it, and therefore in a general $f(T)$ cosmological scenario every quantity is expressed only in terms of the Hubble function. The great advantage is that for one-dimensional systems it is easy to construct the phase space portraits, and thus extract information and explore in detail the features and possible behaviours of $f(T)$ cosmology. We utilize the phase space portraits and we show that $f(T)$ cosmology can describe the universe evolution in agreement with observations, namely starting from a Big Bang singularity, evolving into the subsequent thermal history and the matter domination, entering into a late-time accelerated expansion, and resulting to the de Sitter phase in the far future. Nevertheless, $f(T)$ cosmology can present a rich class of more exotic behaviours, such as the cosmological bounce and turnaround, the phantom-divide crossing, the Big Brake and the Big Crunch, and it may exhibit various singularities, including the non-harmful ones of type II and type IV. We study the phase space of three specific viable $f(T)$ models offering a complete picture. Moreover, we present a new model of $f(T)$ gravity that can lead to a universe in agreement with observations, free of perturbative instabilities, and applying the Om(z) diagnostic test we confirm that it is in agreement with the combination of SNIa, BAO and CMB data at 1$\sigma$ confidence level.