Masato Minamitsuji

Thick brane solutions

This paper gives a comprehensive review on thick brane solutions and related topics. Such models have attracted much attention from many aspects since the birth of the brane world scenario. In many works, it has been usually assumed that a brane is an infinitely thin object; however, in more general situations, one can no longer assume this. It is also widely considered that more fundamental theories such as string theory would have a minimal length scale. Many multidimensional field theories coupled to gravitation have exact solutions of gravitating topological defects, which can represent our brane world. The inclusion of brane thickness can realize a variety of possible brane world models. Given our understanding, the known solutions can be classified into topologically non-trivial solutions and trivial ones. The former class contains solutions of a single scalar (domain walls), multi-scalar, gauge-Higgs (vortices), Weyl gravity and so on. As an example of the latter class, we consider solutions of two interacting scalar fields. Approaches to obtain cosmological equations in the thick brane world are reviewed. Solutions with spatially extended branes (S-branes) and those with an extra time-like direction are also discussed.

Classification of cosmology with arbitrary matter in the Hořava–Lifshitz model

Abstract In this work, we discuss the cosmological evolutions in the nonrelativistic and possibly renormalizable gravitational theory, called the Hořava–Lifshitz (HL) theory. We consider the original HL model (type I), and the modified version obtained by an analytic continuation of parameters (type II). We classify the possible cosmological evolutions with arbitrary matter. We will find a variety of cosmology.

Cosmological evolution of regularized branes in 6D warped flux compactifications

We study the cosmological evolution of extended branes in 6D warped flux compactification models. The branes are endowed with the three ordinary spatial dimensions, which are assumed to be homogeneous and isotropic, as well as an internal extra dimension compactified on a circle. We embed these codimension 1 branes in a static bulk 6D spacetime, whose geometry is a solution of 6D Einstein-Maxwell or Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theories, corresponding to a warped flux compactification. The brane matter consists of a complex scalar field which is coupled to the bulk U(1) gauge field. In both models, we show that there is critical point which the brane cannot cross as it moves in the bulk. We study the cosmological behavior, especially when the brane approaches this critical point or one of the two conical singularities. In the present setup where the bulk geometry is fixed, we find that the brane cosmology does not coincide with the standard one in the low-energy limit.

Self-accelerating solutions in the cascading DGP braneworld

Abstract The self-accelerating branch of the Dvali–Gabadadze–Porrati (DGP) five-dimensional braneworld has provided a compelling model for the current cosmic acceleration. Recent observations, however, have not favored it so much. We discuss the solutions which contain a de Sitter 3-brane in the cascading DGP braneworld model, which is a kind of higher-dimensional generalizations of the DGP model, where a p-dimensional brane is placed on a ( p + 1 ) -dimensional one and the p-brane action contains the ( p + 1 ) -dimensional induced scalar curvature term. In the simplest six-dimensional model, we derive the solutions. Our solutions can be classified into two branches, which reduce to the self-accelerating and normal solutions in the limit of the original five-dimensional DGP model. In the presence of the six-dimensional bulk gravity, the ‘normal’ branch provides a new self-accelerating solution. The expansion rate of this new branch is generically lower than that of the original one, which may alleviate the fine-tuning problem.

Thick de Sitter brane solutions in higher dimensions

We present thick de Sitter brane solutions which are supported by two interacting phantom scalar fields in five-, six-, and seven-dimensional spacetime. It is shown that for all cases regular solutions with anti-de Sitter asymptotic (5D problem) and a flat asymptotic far from the brane (6D and 7D cases) exist. We also discuss the stability of our solutions.

Brane cosmological solutions in six-dimensional warped flux compactifications

We study cosmology on a conical brane in the six-dimensional Einstein–Maxwell-dilaton system, where the extra dimensions are compactified by a magnetic flux. We systematically construct exact cosmological solutions using the fact that the system is equivalently described by (6+n)-dimensional pure Einstein–Maxwell theory via dimensional reduction. In particular, we find a power-law inflationary solution for a general dilatonic coupling. When the dilatonic coupling is given by that of Nishino–Sezgin chiral supergravity, this reduces to the known solution which is not inflating. The power-law solution is shown to be the late-time attractor. We also investigate cosmological tensor perturbations in this model using the (6+n)-dimensional description. We obtain the separable equation of motion and find that there always exists a zero mode, while tachyonic modes are absent in the spectrum. The mass spectrum of Kaluza–Klein modes is obtained numerically.

Gravity on an extended brane in six-dimensional warped flux compactifications

We study linearized gravity in a six-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell model of warped braneworlds, where the extra dimensions are compactified by a magnetic flux. It is difficult to construct a strict codimension two braneworld with matter sources other than pure tension. To overcome this problem we replace the codimension two defect by an extended brane, with one spatial dimension compactified on a Kaluza-Klein circle. Our background is composed of a warped, axisymmetric bulk and one or two branes. We find that weak gravity sourced by arbitrary matter on the brane(s) is described by a four-dimensional scalar-tensor theory. We show, however, that the scalar mode is suppressed at long distances and hence four-dimensional Einstein gravity is reproduced on the brane.

Instability of brane cosmological solutions with flux compactifications

We discuss the stability of the higher-dimensional de Sitter (dS) brane solutions with two-dimensional internal space in the Einstein-Maxwel theory. We show that an instability appears in the scalar-type perturbations with respect to the dS spacetime. We derive a differential relation which has the very similar structure to the ordinary laws of thermodynamics as an extension of the work for the six-dimensional model [20]. In this relation, the area of dS horizon (integrated over the two internal dimensions) exactly behaves as the thermodynamical entropy. The dynamically unstable solutions are in the thermodynamically unstable branch. An unstable dS compactification either evolves toward a stable configuration or two-dimensional internal space is decompactified. These dS brane solutions are equivalent to the accelerating cosmological solutions in the six-dimensional Einstein-Maxwell-dilaton theory via dimensional reduction. Thus, if the seed higher-dimensional solution is unstable, the corresponding six-dimensional solution is also unstable. From the effective four-dimensional point of view, a cosmological evolution from an unstable cosmological solution in higher dimensions may be seen as a process of the transition from the initial cosmological inflation to the current dark energy dominated Universe.

Domain wall universe in the Einstein-Born-Infeld theory

Abstract In this Letter, we discuss the dynamics of a domain wall universe embedded into the charged black hole spacetime of the Einstein–Born–Infeld (EBI) theory. There are four kinds of possible spacetime structures, i.e., those with no horizon, the extremal one, those with two horizons (as the Reissner–Nordstrom black hole), and those with a single horizon (as the Schwarzshild black hole). We derive the effective cosmological equations on the wall. In contrast to the previous works, we take the contribution of the electrostatic energy on the wall into account. By examining the properties of the effective potential, we find that a bounce can always happen outside the (outer) horizon. For larger masses of the black hole, the height of the barrier between the horizon and bouncing point in the effective potential becomes smaller, leading to longer time scales of bouncing process. These results are compared with those in the previous works.

Cosmological Kaluza–Klein branes in black brane spacetimes

Abstract We discuss the cosmological evolution of a brane in the D ( > 6 ) -dimensional black brane spacetime in the context of the Kaluza–Klein (KK) braneworld scheme, i.e., to consider KK compactification on the brane. The bulk spacetime is composed of two copies of a patch of D-dimensional black three-brane solution. The near-horizon geometry is given by AdS 5 × S ( D − 5 ) while in the asymptotic infinity the spacetime approaches D-dimensional Minkowski. We consider the brane motion from the near-horizon region toward the spatial infinity, which induces cosmology on the brane. As is expected, in the early times, namely when the brane is located in the near-horizon region, the effective cosmology on the brane coincides with that in the second Randall–Sundrum (RS II) model. Then, the brane cosmology starts to deviate from the RS type one since the dynamics of KK compactified dimensions becomes significant. We find that the brane Universe cannot reach the asymptotic infinity, irrespectively of the components of matter on the brane.