Phantoms and strange attractors in cosmology

TL;DR

This paper explores a cosmological model with multiple scalar fields, including a negative kinetic term, revealing complex chaotic behaviors and strange attractors that cause alternating phases of contraction, expansion, and steady de Sitter-like states.

Contribution

It introduces a novel cosmological model with three interacting scalar fields, including one with negative kinetic energy, demonstrating chaotic dynamics and strange attractors in the evolution.

Findings

Chaotic cosmologies with fluctuating contraction and expansion phases.

Presence of strange attractors in the cosmological solutions.

Alternation between chaotic phases and steady de Sitter-like periods.

Abstract

We study a cosmological model of gravity coupled to three, self-interacting scalar fields, one of them with negative kinetic term. The theory has cosmological solutions described by three-dimensional quadratic autonomous equations, leading to strange attractors. The associated chaotic cosmologies exhibit highly fluctuating periods of contraction and expansion, alternating with long, steady periods in a de Sitter-like phase.