Cosmological bouncing scenarios in symmetric teleparallel gravity

TL;DR

This paper investigates cosmological bouncing scenarios within symmetric teleparallel gravity, analyzing different $f(Q)$ models in flat FLRW spacetime, and assesses their energy conditions and stability to support matter bounce solutions.

Contribution

It introduces and analyzes bouncing cosmological models in symmetric teleparallel gravity with novel $f(Q)$ functions, including stability and energy condition evaluations.

Findings

Both linear and non-linear $f(Q)$ models support matter bounce scenarios.

Energy conditions are satisfied in the examined models.

Stability analysis confirms the viability of the bounce solutions.

Abstract

Symmetric Teleparallel Gravity is an exceptional theory of gravity that is consistent with the vanishing affine connection. This theory is an alternative and a simpler geometrical formulation of general relativity, where the non-metricity $Q$ drives the gravitational interaction. Our interest lies in exploring the cosmological bouncing scenarios in a flat Friedmann-Lima\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) spacetime within this framework. We explore bouncing scenarios with two different Lagrangian forms of $f(Q)$ such as a linearly and non-linearly dependence on $Q$. We have successfully examined all the energy conditions and stability analysis for both models to present a matter bounce.