Scalar-tensor cosmologies in a minisuperspace formulation: a case study

TL;DR

This paper develops a universal minisuperspace framework for scalar-tensor cosmologies, enabling the analysis of cosmic evolution and quantum cosmology across different frames with non-minimal matter-gravity coupling.

Contribution

It extends minisuperspace formalism to arbitrary frames with non-minimal coupling, introducing gauge choices and invariant coordinates for analyzing scalar-tensor cosmologies.

Findings

Unified framework for different frames via conformal transformations

Analytical solutions in Einstein frame can be transformed to physical frame

Application to Wheeler-DeWitt quantum cosmology

Abstract

We revisit a general minisuperspace (MSS) formalism for scalar-tensor (ST) FLRW type cosmological models in arbitrary frame with perfect fluid source. We discuss how to impose Cauchy data on the corresponding dynamical system in order to reconstruct standard ({\Lambda}CDM) cosmological model. So far, the integrability of such models has been extensively studied in the Einstein or Jordan frames mainly. We extend these studies to arbitrary frame taking into account non-minimal coupling between matter and gravity. To this aim we explore a gauge freedom associated with a choice of lapse function. We show that particular isothermal MSS coordinates are related with Einstein frames representing solution equivalent classes and have some invariant meaning. This provides new universal framework for investigating cosmic evolution in arbitrary frame: analytical solutions obtained in the Einstein frame can be transformed back to the physical frame by making use of a conformal transformation and field redefinition. We also show how such technique can be useful when applied to Wheeler-DeWitt quantum cosmology.