Herglotz Action for Homogeneous Cosmology

Abstract

We present an action from which the dynamics of homogeneous cosmologies can be derived. The action has no dependence on scale within the system and hence is more parsimonious in its description than the Einstein-Hilbert action. The form of the action follows that pioneered by Herglotz and hence allows for a direct interpretation of the system as being both autonomous and frictional.