The Conformal Stealth of any Standard Cosmology

Abstract

It is shown that any homogeneous and isotropic universe, independently of its spatial topology and matter content, allows for the presence of a conformal stealth, i.e. a nontrivial conformally invariant scalar field with vanishing energy-momentum tensor, which evolves along with the universe without causing even the smallest backreaction. Surprisingly, this gravitationally invisible universal witness is inhomogeneous with zero consequences for the underlying cosmology. Additionally, it is shown that these results are not exclusive of a four-dimensional universe by generalizing them to higher dimensions.