Anatomy of a Bounce

TL;DR

This paper explores how holographic principles influence the bouncing behavior of brane-world cosmologies with matter, showing that initial conditions and holographic bounds determine whether a bounce occurs.

Contribution

It extends previous models by including radiation matter and demonstrates that holographic bounds can predict the occurrence of a cosmological bounce.

Findings

A bounce depends on initial conditions when matter is included.

Holographic bounds can serve as sufficient conditions for a bounce.

The model links black hole charge in the bulk to brane cosmology behavior.

Abstract

Holographic considerations are used in the scrutiny of a special class of brane-world cosmologies. Inherently to this class, the brane typically bounces, at a finite size, as a consequence of a charged black hole in the bulk. Whereas a prior treatment [hep-th/0301010] emphasized a brane that is void of standard-model matter, the analysis is now extended to include an intrinsic (radiation-dominated) matter source. An interesting feature of this generalized model is that a bounce is no longer guaranteed but, rather, depends on the initial conditions. Ultimately, we demonstrate that compliance with an appropriate holographic bound is a sufficient prerequisite for a bounce to occur.