Scaling Solutions in Robertson-Walker Spacetimes

TL;DR

This paper analyzes the stability of cosmological scaling solutions involving a scalar field and matter in Robertson-Walker spacetimes with curvature, identifying conditions for different future attractors and their stability.

Contribution

It extends previous work by including spatial curvature effects and classifies the stability of various scalar field and matter scaling solutions in curved cosmologies.

Findings

Identifies three types of future attractors in curved spacetimes.

Determines stability conditions for matter scaling solutions with curvature.

Shows solutions with zero scalar field energy density are not late-time attractors.

Abstract

We investigate the stability of cosmological scaling solutions describing a barotropic fluid with $p=(\gamma-1)\rho$ and a non-interacting scalar field $\phi$ with an exponential potential $V(\phi)=V_0\e^{-\kappa\phi}$. We study homogeneous and isotropic spacetimes with non-zero spatial curvature and find three possible asymptotic future attractors in an ever-expanding universe. One is the zero-curvature power-law inflation solution where $\Omega_\phi=1$ ($\gamma<2/3,\kappa^2<3\gamma$ and $\gamma>2/3,\kappa^2<2$). Another is the zero-curvature scaling solution, first identified by Wetterich, where the energy density of the scalar field is proportional to that of matter with $\Omega_\phi=3\gamma/\kappa^2$ ($\gamma<2/3,\kappa^2>3\gamma$). We find that this matter scaling solution is unstable to curvature perturbations for $\gamma>2/3$. The third possible future asymptotic attractor is a solution with negative spatial curvature where the scalar field energy density remains proportional to the curvature with $\Omega_\phi=2/\kappa^2$ ($\gamma>2/3,\kappa^2>2$). We find that solutions with $\Omega_\phi=0$ are never late-time attractors.