Stability of the flat FLRW metric in $f(T)$ gravity

Abstract

In this paper, we investigate the stability of the flat FLRW metric in $f(T)$ gravity. This is achieved by analysing the small perturbations, $\delta$ about the Hubble parameter and the matter energy density, $\delta_\text{m}$. We find that $\delta \propto \dot{H}/H$ and $\delta_{\text{m}} \propto H$. Since the Hubble parameter depends on the function $f(T)$, two models were considered (A) the power-law model $f(T) = \alpha (-T)^n$, and (B) the exponential model $f(T) = \alpha T_0 \left(1 - \exp \left[-p \sqrt{\dfrac{T}{T_0}}\right]\right)$, where the parameters $n$ and $p$ were chosen to give comparable physical results. For the parameters considered, it was found that the solutions are stable with vanishing $\delta$ and decaying then constant $\delta_{\text{m}}$, meaning that the matter perturbations persist during late times.