Einstein-{\ae}ther Scalar-tensor Cosmology

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel Einstein-{ {a}}ther scalar-tensor cosmological model incorporating Lorentz-violating terms, analyzes its field equations, and explores its inflationary solutions and integrability properties.

Contribution

It extends scalar-tensor cosmology by including a dynamic { {a}}ether field, providing new insights into Lorentz violation effects and integrability of the model.

Findings

Existence of analytic solutions for specific functions.

Inflationary eras similar to standard scalar-tensor models.

Field equations are integrable with nonlocal conservation laws.

Abstract

We propose an Einstein-{\ae}ther scalar-tensor cosmological model. In particular in the scalar-tensor Action Integral we introduce the {\ae}ther field with {\ae}ther coefficients to be functions of the scalar field. This cosmological model extends previous studies on Lorentz-violating theories. For a spatially flat Friedmann--Lema\^{\i}tre--Robertson--Walker background space we write the field equations which are of second-order with dynamical variables the scale factor and the scalar field. The physical evolution of the field equations depends upon three unknown functions which are related to the scalar-tensor coupling function, the scalar field potential and the {\ae}ther coefficient functions. We investigate the existence of analytic solutions for the field equations and the integrability properties according to the existence of linear in the momentum conservation laws. We define a new set of variables in which the dynamical evolution depends only upon the scalar field potential. Furthermore, the asymptotic behaviour and the cosmological history is investigated where we find that the theory provides inflationary eras similar with that of scalar-tensor theory but with Lorentz-violating terms provided by the {\ae}ther field. Finally, in the new variables we found that the field equations are integrable due to the existence of nonlocal conservation laws for arbitrary functional forms of the three free functions.