Bouncing Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld cosmologies: an alternative to Inflation?

P. P. Avelino, R. Zambujal Ferreira

Abstract
We study the dynamics of a homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe in the context of the Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld theory of gravity. We generalize earlier results, obtained in the context of a radiation dominated universe, to account for the evolution of a universe permeated by a perfect fluid with an arbitrary equation of state parameter w. We show that a bounce may occur for κ > 0, if w is time-dependent, and we demonstrate that it is free from tensor singularities. We argue that Eddington-inspired Born-Infeld cosmologies may be a viable alternative to the inflationary paradigm as a solution to fundamental problems of the standard cosmological model.

Physical Review D
Volume 86, Page 041501_1
August 2012

DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.86.041501
ADS Bibliographic code: 2012PhRvD..86d1501A