General relativistic, nonstandard model for the dark sector of the Universe

Abstract

We present a general relativistic version of the self-gravitating fluid model for the dark sector of the Universe (darkon fluid) introduced in Phys. Rev. 80 (2009) 083513 and extended and reviewed in Entropy (2013) 559. This model contains no free parameters in its Lagrangian. The resulting energy-momentum tensor is dustlike with a nontrivial energy-flow. In an approximation valid at sub-Hubble scales we find that the cosmic acceleration is not attributed to any kind of negative pressure but it is due to a dynamically determined sign change of the energy density. This property turns out to be equivalent to a time-dependent, sign changing curvature. The cosmological equations obtained agree with those of the nonrelativistic model but they are given a new physical interpretation. Furthermore we have derived the self-consistent equation to be satisfied by the nonrelativistic gravitational potential produced by a galactic halo in our model from a weak field limit of a generalized Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff equation.