INTRODUCTION

[1.1] GENERAL THEORY OF RELATIVITY

The success of Newtonian gravitation based on the inverse square law

and the Newtonian mechanics (three laws of motion) is well known.

Newtonian mechanics has glaring success and is in perfect agreement

with the experiments where low speed is concerned. However, it

collapses badly at higher speed comparable to that of light. Also the

Newtons equations of motion are covariant under Galilean

transformations but they are not obeyed by Maxwells

electromagnetic equations. These two major contradictions have

doubted the universal validity of the Newtonian mechanics which

lead to the foundation of special theory of relativity by Albert

Einstein in 1905.

Special relativity unifies the concept of space and time into a single

four dimensional structure called space-time. This concept of space-

time that arises from relativity is based on two simple postulates:

(i) The speed of light in free space is constant and

(ii) The laws of physics are the same in all inertial (non-

accelerating) frames.

In special relativity the space-time is flat and hence, this theory does

not deal with gravitation. To overcome these limitations, Einstein

generalized the special theory of relativity and proposed a new theory

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in 1916, known as general theory of relativity or Einsteins theory of

gravitation.

The general theory of relativity is a more accurate and comprehensive

description of gravitation than the prevailing Newtonian gravitation

theory. This theory deals with non-inertial (accelerating) frame unlike

special theory of relativity which deals only with inertial frame. In

general relativity, the force of gravity is due to the curvature of

space-time which propagates as a wave. The curvature of space-time

is due to the massive object on it, such as Sun, which warps space

around its gravitational centre. In such a space, the motion of the

particles can be described in terms of gravity rather than in terms of

external forces. In the development of general theory of relativity,

Einstein was mainly guided by three general principles, viz. principle

of covariance, principle of equivalence and Machs principle.

The Principle of Covariance

The principle of covariance states that the laws of physics must be

independent of space-time coordinates i.e. the laws of nature must

retain their original form in all coordinates system. According to this

principle we must express all the physical laws of nature by means of

equations in the covariant form, which are independent of coordinate

systems. This can be done by expressing the laws of nature in the

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form of tensor equations, because the tensor equation has exactly the

same form in all coordinate system.

The Principle of Equivalence

The principle of equivalence states that at any point of space-time we

can find a locally inertial system in which the laws of special theory

of relativity are valid. This principle is the actual hypothesis by which

gravitational considerations are introduced into the development of

general relativity. The experimental verification by Eotvos in 1890 at

Princeton University that the inertial mass and the gravitational mass

of the same body is equal, served as a tool to Einstein to formulate the

principle of equivalence. This principle says that no physical

experiment can distinguish whether the acceleration of a free particle

is due to gravitational field or it is due to an acceleration of a frame of

reference. Hence, this leads us to an intimate relation between metric

and gravitation. The principle of equivalence is classified into:

(a) The strong principle of equivalence and

(b) The weak principle of equivalence.

The strong principle of equivalence states that the observable laws of

nature do not depend upon the absolute values of the gravitational

potentials while the weak principle of equivalence implies equality of

inertial and gravitational mass of a closed system. In his later work

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Einstein did not make a sharp difference between these two principles

but used mostly the strong equivalence principle.

Mach Principle

Machs principle states that all inertial forces are due to the

distribution of matter in the universe. This intriguing principle

inspired Einstein while he was developing the general theory of

relativity. Mach principle is based on the Machian ideas that inertia as

well as gravitation depends upon mutual action between bodies. The

importance of Machs principle is that it can be used to determine the

geometry of the space-time and thereby the inertial properties of test

particles from the information of density and mass energy distribution

in its neighbourhood.

In brief, according to the Mach principle:

(i) The inertia of the body must increase when ponderable

masses are piled up in its neighbourhood.

(ii) A body must experience an accelerated force when

neighbouring masses are accelerated and, in fact, the force

must be in the same direction as that of acceleration.

(iii) A rotating hallow body must generate inside of itself a

cariolis field, which deflects moving bodies in the sense

of the rotation, and a radial centrifugal field as well.

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The role of Machian effects and its various interpretations in the

general theory of relativity has been discussed by many authors. But

it was Einstein who first recognized the necessity of the principle and

he has shown that above three effects are present in general relativity.

The foundation of general relativity is based on the Riemannian

metric

ds 2 g ij dx i dx j , ( i, j 1, 2, 3, 4 ).

Here the fundamental metric tensor g ij plays the role of gravitational

potential and gravitational field. Curvature of space-time is related to

the matter and energy through Einsteins field equations

1 8 G Tij
Gij Rij R g ij ,
2 c2

where Gij is the Einstein tensor, Rij is the Ricci tensor, R is the Ricci

scalar, g ij is the metric tensor, Tij is an energy momentum tensor,

G is the constant of gravitation and c is the speed of light.

[1.2] ALTERNATIVE THEORIES OF GRAVITATION

Einsteins general theory of relativity is one of the most beautiful

structure of theoretical physics which describes the successful theory

of gravitation in terms of geometry. It has also served as a basis for

models of the universe. However, since Einstein first published his

theory of gravitation, there have been many criticisms on general

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relativity because of the lack of certain desirable features in the

theory. According to Einstein the Machs principle is not

substantiated by general relativity. Also the singularity problem and

some unsatisfactory features exist in general relativity. Therefore, to

overcome these difficulties several theories of gravitation have been

proposed as alternatives to Einsteins theory of general relativity. The

most important among them are scalar-tensor theories of gravitation

formulated by Jordan (1955), Brans and Dicke (1961), Nordtvedt

(1970), Hoyle and Narlikar (1971), Ross (1972), Dunn (1974),

Schmidt et al. (1981), Saez Ballester (1985) and Motta (1997). Sen

(1957) constructed a unified field theory based on Lyras (1951)

modification of Riemannian geometry. Professor Rosen (1973)

proposed a bimetric theory of gravitation to get rid of the singularities

appearing in the Einsteins theory of general relativity. Barber (1982)

proposed two self-creation theories based on two sets of general

relativistic field equations involving matter and a scalar field.

The theories mentioned above have been developed as a consequence

of the fact that Einsteins theory of general relativity requires some

modification in view of the certain points. The logic of the

development in each case is different and requires full analysis of the

situation which can be done, in part, by a critical mathematical survey

and seeing thereby the generality of the field equations and in part, by

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scrutinizing the implications in view of the physics incorporated by

them. Both these ideas are interwoven and one without the other is

meaningless. With these objectives we propose to investigate, in this

thesis, some cosmological solutions of the field equations in certain

alternative theories of gravitation. In this chapter, a systematic survey

of the alternative theories of gravitation, which form the subject of

our investigation, is conducted.

(i) A Unified Field Theory Based On Lyra Geometry

Since the introduction of Einsteins theory of gravitation, attempts

have been made to unify the field theories; such a theory would be

required for a generalization of the usual Riemannian space-time.

Weyl (1918) made one of the best attempts in this direction. He

proposed a more general theory in which electromagnetism is also

described geometrically. However this theory, based on non-

integrability of length transfer, had some unsatisfactory features and

did not gain general acceptance. Later Lyra (1951) suggested a

modification of Riemannian geometry, which may also be considered

as a modification of Weyls geometry, by introducing a gauge

function into the structureless manifold which removes the non-

integrability condition of the length of a vector under parallel

transport and a cosmological constant is naturally introduced from the

geometry. In the subsequent investigations Sen (1957), Sen and Dunn

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(1971) formulated a new scalar-tensor theory of gravitation and

constructed an analog of the Einsteins field equations based on

Lyras geometry.

According to Halford (1970), the present theory predicts the same

effects within observational limits, as far as the classical solar system

tests are concerned. Soleng (1987) has pointed out that the constant

displacement field in Lyras geometry will either include a creation

field and be equal to Hoyles creation field in cosmology (Hoyle,

1948; Hoyle and Narlikar, 1963, 1964) or contain a special vacuum

field which together with gauge vector term may be considered as a

cosmological term.

The field equations (in geometrized units for which c = 1, G = 1), in

normal gauge for Lyras manifold, obtained by Sen (1957) as

1 3 3
Rij g ij R i j g ij k k 8 Tij ,
2 2 4

where is the displacement field, Rij is the Ricci tensor, R is the

Ricci scalar, Tij is the energy momentum tensor and g ij is the metric

tensor.

Interacting scalar fields for different space-times in Lyra geometry

have been studied by Several authors viz. Bhamra (1974), Karade and

Borikar (1978), Kalyanshetti and Waghmode (1982), Reddy and

Innaiah (1986), Reddy and Venkateswarlu (1987), Singh and Singh

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(1991a, 1992), Singh and Desikan (1997), Pradhan and Pandey

(2003), Pradhan and Vishwakarma (2004), Mohanty et al. (2006),

Casana et al. (2005, 2006, 2007), Bali and Chandnani (2008), Kumar

and Singh (2008), Rao et al. (2008) and singh et al. (2009). Motivated

by these researchers, in the chapter II, we have studied spatially

homogeneous and isotropic FRW cosmological models with bulk

viscosity and zero- mass scalar fields in Lyra geometry.

(ii) Barbers Self-Creation Theories

Several modifications to Einsteins general theory of relativity have

been proposed and extensively studied so far by many authors to

unify gravitation and many other effects in the universe. The role of

Machs principle in physics is discussed in relation to the equivalence

principle. Brans-Dicke (1961) pointed out that as a consequence of a

Machs principle the value of gravitational constant should be

determined by the matter in the universe and they have taken this

concept as the reason for generalizing the Einsteins theory of general

relativity to the scalar-tensor theory of gravitation. Here, the tensor

field is identified with the space-time of Riemannian geometry and

scalar field is alien to geometry. This theory does not allow the scalar

field to interact with fundamental principles and photons. However,

Barber (1982) has modified Brans-Dicke scalar-tensor theory to

develop a continuous creation of matter in the large scale structure of

10
the universe. As a result, Barber (1982) proposed two self-creation

theories based on two sets of general relativistic field equations

involving matter and a scalar field. These are generalization in some

sense of the Brans-Dicke (1961) field equations.

Barbers First Self-Creation Theory

Barber (1982) attempted to produce a continuous creation scalar-

tensor theory by adapting the Brans-Dicke theory. Brans-Dicke theory

does not allow the scalar field to interact with fundamental particles

and photons. The modified theory creates the universe out of self-

contained gravitational, scalar and matter fields. However, the

solution of the one-body problems reveals unsatisfactory

characteristics of the first theory and this theory cannot be derived

from an action principle. Brans (1987) has pointed out that the field

equations in Barbers first self-creation theory is not only in

disagreement with experiment but are actually inconsistence, in

general, since the equivalence principle is violated.

The field equations in Barbers first self-creation theory are

1 2 2
Rij g ij R 8 1Tij i; j g ij
2 3 3

and 4 T ,

where is coupling constant to be determined from experiments.

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Barbers Second Self-Creation Theory

The second theory retains the attractive features of the first theory and

overcomes previous drawbacks. Like the first theory, this theory

cannot be derived from an action principle. This modified theory

creates the universe out of self-contained gravitational and matter

fields. In this theory, the gravitational coupling of the Einstein field

equations is allowed to be a variable scalar on the space-time

manifold. Barbers second theory is a modification of general

relativity to include continuous creation and is within observational

limits. Thus, it modifies general relativity to become a variable

G-theory. In this theory the scalar field does not directly gravitate but

simply divides the matter tensor with the scalar acting as a reciprocal

gravitational constant. The scalar field is postulated to couple with the

trace of the energy momentum tensor.

The field equations in Barbers (1982) second self-creation theory of

gravitation are

1
Rij g ij R 8 1Tij
2

and the scalar field equations is defined by

8
T ,
3

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where ;kk is the invariant dAlembertian and T is the trace of

the energy momentum tensor describing all non-gravitational and

non-scalar field matter and energy. Barbers scalar field is a

function of time t due to the nature of space-time which plays the role

analogous to the reciprocal of Newtonian gravitational constant i.e.

G 1. A coupling constant has to be determined from the

experiment. The measurements of the deflection of light restrict the

value of coupling to 10 1 . In the limit 0 , the theory

approaches the Einsteins theory in every respect. Several

cosmologists viz. Singh (1984), Shri Ram and Singh (1998), Pradhan

and Vishwakarma (2002), Panigrahi and Sahu (2003), Vishwakarma

and Narlikar (2005), Sahu and Mohanty (2006), Singh and Kumar

(2007), Singh et al. (2008), Venkateswarlu et al. (2008), Reddy and

Naidu (2009) and Pradhan et al. (2009) have studied various aspects

of different cosmological models in Barbers second self-creation

theory. In view of the consistency of Barbers second self-creation

theory of gravitation, we intend to investigate some of the aspects of

this theory in chapter III.

(iii) Rosens Bimetric Theory of Gravitation

Professor Rosen (1940, 1973) proposed to modify the formalism of

the general relativity theory by introducing into it, besides the metric

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tensor g ij , a second metric tensor f ij corresponding to flat space. This

modification did not affect the physical predictions of the theory, but

it did improve the formalism: certain quantities which previously had

complicated transformation properties acquired a simple tensor

character. In particular, it became possible to describe gravitational

energy and momentum density by means of a tensor. This modified

form of general relativity is known to be called as bimetric theory of

relativity.

The interpretations of the two metric tensors in the bimetric theory are

not unique. One can regard the f ij as simple as an auxiliary

mathematical quantity having no direct physical or geometrical

significance, while the g ij is considered to be the fundamental metric

tensor determining the properties of space-time and hence affecting

the behavior of physical system. Alternatively, one can regard the f ij

as describing the properties of space-time, which is now considered to

be flat, while the g ij is interpreted as a gravitational potential tensor

which determines the interaction between matter and gravitation.

Rosen clearly stated his motivation in constructing his new bimetric

theory of relativity. If the existence of black hole in nature is

confirmed, this will represents a brilliant success of general relativity.

However, since there is no convincing evidence at present that a black

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hole represents a breakdown of the familiar concepts of space-time

and hence, is something unphysical. If one has at ones disposal the

two metric tensors, it is natural to raise the question as to whether one

can set up theories of gravitation which satisfy the covariance and

equivalence principles but which differs from the general relativity

theory.

Rosen (1940) has proposed at each point of space-time a Euclidean

metric tensor f ij in addition to the Riemannian metric tensor g ij , so

that the corresponding line elements in a coordinate system x i are

ds 2 g ij dx i dx j

and d 2 f ij dx i dx j ,

where ds is the interval between two neighbouring events as

measured by a clock and a measuring rod. The interval d is an

abstract geometrical quantity not directly measurable. One can regard

it as describing the geometry that exists when matter is absent.

Employing the variation principle, Rosen (1973, 1974) has obtained

the field equations of bimetric relativity as

1
N i j i j N 8 kTi j ,
2

where

1 ab hj g
Nij f ( g g hi / a ) / b , N g ij N ij , k
2 f

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and Ti j is the energy momentum tensor.

For empty space-time, the field equations become

N ij 0 .

This theory has attracted the attention of several researchers who have

studied the various aspects of BR. To note a few are Liebscher

(1975), Yilmaz (1975, 1979), Falik and Opher (1979), Karade (1981),

Reddy and Venkateswarlu (1989), Adhav and Karade (1994),

Mohanty et al. (2002), Adhav et al. (2003), Reddy et al. (2008), and

Sahoo (2008, 2009), etc. Inspired by their work, we have taken up the

study of bimetric theory of relativity as regard to Bianchi type-I

space-time for massive string and perfect fluid distribution with

electromagnetic field and five dimensional spherically symmetric

space-time filled with scalar meson field, domain walls and cosmic

string which form the content of chapters IV and V.

[1.3] SYMMETRIES

Symmetry is described by the group of motions in such a way that

two motion groups have the similar structure. Symmetric property is

that the field is the same at every point of space. The field equations

of general theory of relativity are non-linear differential equations in

ten unknowns ( g ij ) and it is very difficult to obtain their exact

solutions. The involvement of symmetry may be plane, spherical and

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cylindrical does reduce the number of gravitational potentials g ij and

thus helps one in simplifying the field equations to some extent. In

the case of plane symmetry the number of unknowns g ij reduces to

five only. From the work of Taub (1951) it is gathered that the

space-times with plane symmetry are quite similar to those with

spherical symmetry.

Axially symmetric gravitational fields within the frame work of

general relativity were introduced by Levi-Civita (1918). The studies

of stationary axially symmetric fields were carried out to determine

relativistic effects on the motion of a slowly rotating body.

Einstein and Rosen (1937) introduced a cylindrically symmetric

metric given by

ds 2 e 2 2 (dt 2 dr 2 ) r 2e 2 d2 e 2 dz 2 ,

where and are functions of r and t only.

The above metric is widely known as Einstein-Rosen metric. Karade

and Dhoble (1979) took up the study of axially symmetric field in

bimetric relativity with Einstein-Rosen metric.

Roy and Raj Bali (1978) have obtained the solution of Einsteins field

equations representing a non-static spherically symmetric perfect

fluid distribution which is conformally flat. Roy and Narayan (1979,

1981) have obtained some inhomogeneous solutions for plane

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symmetric as well as cylindrically-symmetric cosmological models

for perfect fluid distribution. Karade et al. (2001) have investigated

some inhomogeneous non-static plane symmetric perfect fluid

solutions in the bimetric theory of gravitation.

[1.4] COSMOLOGY AND COSMOLOGICAL MODELS

Cosmology is a science developed in the beginning of twentieth

century rapidly. The aim of cosmology is to determine the large scale

structure of the physical universe. At first sight the universe consists

of stars, star clusters, galaxies, Nebulae, pulsars, quasars as well as

such things as cosmic rays and background radiation. Cosmology is

one of the greatest intellectual achievements of all time beginning

from its origin. Cosmology, as a common man understands, is that

branch of astronomy, which deals with the large scale structure of the

universe. The present universe is both spatially homogeneous and

isotropic. Therefore it can be well described by Friedmann-

Robertson-Walker (FRW) model. The basic problem in cosmology is

to find the cosmological models of universe and to compare the

resulting models with the present day universe using astronomical

data.

Einsteins general theory of relativity is a satisfactory theory of

gravitation correctly predicting the motion of test particles and

photons in curved space-time, but in order to apply to the universe

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one has to introduce simplifying assumptions and approximations.

The most powerful assumption in cosmological theory is that of

homogeneity and isotropy often referred to as the cosmological

principle. Physically, this implies that there is no preferred position,

preferred direction or preferred epoch in the universe. Thus by using

the cosmological principle, we assume that the universe is filled with

a simple macroscopic perfect fluid. It is interesting to note that there

is no necessary relationship between homogeneity and isotropy. A

manifold can be homogeneous but nowhere isotropic or it can be

isotropic around a point without being homogeneous. On the other

hand, if a space is isotropic everywhere then it is homogeneous. Since

there is ample observational evidence for isotropy, and the

Copernican principle would have us believe that, we are not the

centre of the universe and therefore observers elsewhere should also

observe isotropy, we will henceforth assume both homogeneity and

isotropy. Therefore we begin construction of cosmological models

with the idea that the universe is homogeneous and isotropic.

The cosmological principle allows us to describe the most general

homogeneous and isotropic space-time given by the Friedmann-

Robertson-Walker (FRW) metric:

dr 2 2
ds dt R (t )
2 2 2
r 2
d 2
r 2
sin 2
d .
1 Kr 2

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Here t is time like coordinate, the function R(t) is known as the scale

factor, K is a constant which by a suitable choice of r can be chosen

to have the values +1, 0 or 1 according as a universe is closed, flat

or open respectively. The coordinates (r , , , t ) form a co-moving

coordinate system in the sense that the cosmic fluid is at rest with

respect to the coordinate system.

Friedmann (1922) was the first to investigate the evolution of the

function R(t) using Einsteins field equations for all three curvatures.

It has been both spatially homogeneous and isotropic and therefore

can be well described by a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW)

model (Partridge and Wilkinson 1967; Ehlers et al. 1968). However,

there is evidence for a small amount of anisotropy (Boughn et al.

1981) and a small magnetic field over cosmic distance scales

(Sofue et al. 1979). This suggests a very large departure from FRW

models at early stages of evolution of the universe. Thus, it is useful

to study cosmological models which may be highly anisotropic. For

the sake of simplicity it is usual to restrict oneself to models that are

spatially homogeneous. The spatially homogeneous and anisotropic

models which are known as Bianchi models present a medium way

between FRW models and completely inhomogeneous anisotropic

universes and thus play an important role in current modern

cosmology.

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[1.5] BIANCHI SPACE-TIMES

Space-times admitting a three parameter group of automorphisms are

important in discussing cosmological models. The case where the

group is simply transitive over the three-dimensional, constant-time

subspace is particularly useful. Bianchi (1898) has shown that there

are only nine distinct sets of structure constants for groups of this type

so that the algebra may be easily used to classify homogeneous space-

times. Most of the work on cosmological solutions is in the area of

homogeneous and isotropic FRW models, because of their tractability

and their possible relevance to the real universe. However, in recent

years, much attention is being paid to the investigation of spatially

homogeneous anisotropic Bianchi cosmological models to understand

the universe at its early stage of evolution. The simplest of them are

the well known nine types of Bianchi models which are necessarily

spatially homogeneous.

Bianchi type cosmological models are important in the sense that

these are homogeneous and anisotropic from which the process of

isotropization of the universe is studied through the passage of time.

Moreover, from the mathematical or theoretical point of view

anisotropic universe have a greater generality than isotropic FRW

models. FRW universes represent only a very special class of viable

cosmological models, through the simplest and most suitable

21
interpretations of fuzzy cosmological observational data. The

simplicity of the field equations and relative ease of solution made

Bianchi space-times useful in constructing models of spatially

homogeneous and anisotropic cosmologies. A complete list of all

exact solutions of Einsteins equations for the Bianchi types I-IX

with perfect fluid is given by Krammer et al. (1980).

[1.6] HIGHER DIMENSIONAL SPACE-TIME

The exact physical situation at very early stages of the formation of

our universe provoked great interest among researchers. Several

attempts have been made to unify gravity with other fundamental

forces in nature. Kaluza and Klein (1921, 1926) unified electromag-

netism with gravity by applying Einsteins general theory of relativity

to a five dimensional space-time manifold. This idea was

enthusiastically considered in theoretical physics and further

generalized by considering higher dimensions in the hope of

achieving unification of all interactions, including weak and strong

forces (Witten, 1984). In recent years, there has been considerable

interest in higher dimensional space-times, in which extra dimensions

are contracted to a very small size, apparently beyond our ability for

measurement. The cosmological dimensional reduction process was

proposed by Chodos and Detweiler (1980) and it is useful for more

than four dimensions. Further, Marciano (1984) has pointed out that

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the experimental detection of time variation of fundamental constants

should be strong evidence for the existence of extra dimensions.

The latest development of super-string theory and super gravitational

theory also created interest among scientists to consider higher

dimensional space-time, for study of the early universe (Weinberg et

al., 1986). Several authors viz. Sahdev (1984), Chatterjee and Bhui

(1990, 1993) and Tan and Shen (1998) have studied physics of the

universe in higher-dimensional space-time. Overdduin and Wesson

(1997) have presented an excellent review of higher-dimensional

unified theories in which the cosmological and astrophysical

implications of extra-dimension have been discussed. All models

discussed so far are based on Einsteins ideas of geometrization of

gravitational field and have minimal extensions of those models in the

general relativity.

[1.7] COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT

In 1917, Einstein introduced the cosmological constant into his field

equations in order to obtain a static cosmological model since his

equations without the cosmological constant admitted only non static

solutions. Recently, there has been a lot of interest in the

cosmological term within the context of quantum field theories,

quantum gravity, super gravity theories and the inflationary universe

scenario. In general relativistic quantum field theory, the

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cosmological constant is explained as the vacuum energy density

(Zeldovich 1967, 1968; Fulling 1974). Negative pressure is a

property of vacuum energy, but the exact nature of dark energy

remains one of the great mysteries of the Big-Bang. The basic role

of the cosmological constant is related to the observational evidence

of high red-shift Type Ia supernovae (Permutter, et al. and Riess, et

al. 1998) for a small decreasing values of cosmological constant

( presence 10 56 cm 2 ) at the present epoch. Bergmann (1968) has

studied the cosmological constant in terms of the Higgs scalar field.

Linde (1974) proposed that the term is a function of temperature

and is related to the process of broken symmetries.

In modern cosmological theories the cosmological constant remains

a focal point of interest. A wide range of observations now suggest

that the universe possesses a non-zero cosmological constant (Krauss

and Turner, 1995). The cosmological models without the

cosmological constant are unable to explain satisfactorily problems

like structure formation and the age of the universe (Singh et al.

1998). Recent interest in the cosmological constant term has

received considerable attention among researchers for various

concepts. Some of the recent discussion on the cosmological constant

problem and on cosmology with a time-varying cosmological

constant by Ratra and Peebles (1988), Dolgov et al. (1990), Dolgov

24
(1997), Sahni and Starobinsky (2000) pointed out that in the absence

of any interaction with matter or radiation, the cosmological constant

remains a constant. However, in the presence of interactions with

matter or radiation, a solution of Einstein equations and the assumed

equation of covariant conservation of stress-energy with a time-

varying cosmological constant can be found. For these solutions,

conservation of energy requires a decrease in the energy density of

the vacuum component to be compensated by a corresponding

increase in the energy density of matter or radiation.

[1.8] INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE

The exact physical situation at the very early stages of the formation

of our universe is still challenging the problem today. The primary

goal of cosmological model is to describe the time evolution of

different phases of the universe, mostly the accelerated expansion

phase of the early universe. The universe is expanding from a hot and

dense initial state so called the Big-Bang in which the light elements

were synthesized. After Big-Bang, the universe underwent a rapid

expansion phase characterized by an exponential increase of the

volume scale factor with time. During 1960-1970s, it was claimed

that the model of the universe is decelerating. But according to Knop

et al. (2003); Riess et al. (2004) of type Ia supernova data,

observations of type Ia supernova (SNe Ia) suggest that the expansion

25
of the universe at later stage is in an accelerating phase. Recent

observations of high red-shift supernovae indicate that the universe is

accelerating at the present epoch. The basic idea of accelerated

expansion phase of the universe is known as inflationary phase.

Inflation means a period in the early universe where some field

effectively mimics a large cosmological constant and so causes a

period of rapid expansion long enough to multiply the initial length

scale many times.

In the inflationary cosmological models usually a scalar field is used

to describe the rapid expansion phase. The scalar field may be related

to cosmological constant used in the FRW model. If an inflationary

period occurs in the very early universe, the matter and radiation

densities drop very close to zero while the inflation field dominates,

but is restored during reheating at the end of inflation when the

scalar field energy converted to radiation. We believe that there was a

period of inflation which leads to many observable properties of the

universe. In particular, inflationary model plays an important role in

solving a number of outstanding problems in cosmology like the

homogeneity, the isotropy and flatness of the observed universe. Guth

(1981), Linde (1982) and La and Steinhardt (1989) are some of the

authors who have investigated several aspects of inflationary universe

in general relativity.

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[1.9] ZERO-MASS SCALAR FIELD

The study of interacting fields, one of the fields being a zero-mass

scalar field, is basically an attempt to look into the yet unsolved

problem of the unification of the gravitational and quantum theories.

In the last few decades there has been considerable interest focused

on the theory of gravitation representing zero-mass scalar fields

coupled with gravitational field in the last few decades. In recent

years, the zero-mass scalar field has acquired particular importance

because of a suggestion by Weinberg and Wilczek (1978) that there

should exist a pseudo scalar boson, the so called axion of negligible

mass. The work of Pecci and Quinn (1979) has lent further support to

this idea.

Bergmann and Leipnik (1957), Bramhachary (1960), Das (1962),

Gautreau (1969), Rao et al. (1972), Reddy and Innaiah (1986),

Reddy (1987) are some of the authors who have investigated various

aspects the theory of gravitation for different space-times in the

presence of zero-mass scalar fields. In particular Singh and Deo

(1986) and Verma (1987) have discussed FRW cosmological models

in the presence of zero-mass scalar fields in general relativity.

[1.10] BULK VISCOSITY

In most treatments of cosmology, cosmic fluid is considered as

perfect fluid. However, bulk viscosity is expected to play an

27
important role at certain stages of an expanding universe. At the early

stages of the evolution of the universe, when radiation is in the form

of photons as well as neutrino decoupled, the matter behaved like a

viscous fluid. Since viscosity counteracts the gravitational collapse, a

different picture of the initial stage of the universe may appear due to

dissipative process caused by viscosity. It has been widely discussed

in the literature that during the evolution of the universe, bulk

viscosity could arise in many circumstances and could lead to an

effective mechanism of galaxy formation. Bulk viscosity is associated

with the grand unified theory (GUT) may lead to inflationary

cosmology which is used to overcome lacunae of several important

problems in the standard Big-Bang cosmology.

The study of viscous mechanism in cosmology attracted the attention

of many workers due to its significant role in the description of high

entropy of the present universe. Misner (1967, 1968) has studied the

effect of viscosity on the evolution in the cosmological models and

suggested that the strong dissipation due to the neutrino viscosity may

considerably reduce the anisotropy of the black-body radiation.

Murphy (1973) constructed isotropic homogeneous spatially-flat

cosmological model with a fluid containing bulk viscosity alone

because the shear viscosity cannot exist due to assumption of

28
isotropy. He observed that the Big-Bang singularity of finite past

may be avoided by introduction of bulk viscosity.

Padamanabhan and Chitre (1987) have shown that the presence of

bulk viscosity leads to inflationary like solutions in general relativity.

Another characteristic of bulk viscosity is that it acts like a negative

energy field in an expanding universe (Johri and Sudharsan 1989).

Mohanty and Pradhan (1990) investigated the problem of interactions

of a gravitational field with bulk viscous fluid in FRW space-time.

Mohanty and Pradhan (1991) extended the work of Murphy (1973) by

considering the special law of variation for Hubbles parameter

presented by Berman (1983) and solved Einsteins field equations

when the universe is filled with viscous fluid. Pradhan and Pandey

(2003) have investigated an LRS Bianchi type-I models with bulk

viscosity in the cosmological theory based on Lyras geometry. The

effect of bulk viscosity on the early evolution of the universe for a

spatially homogeneous and isotropic Robertson-Walker model is

discussed by Singh (2008). The effect of bulk viscosity on the

cosmological evolution has been investigated by a number of authors

in the frame work of general theory of relativity and alternative

theories of gravitation.

29
[1.11] ELECTROMAGNETIC FIELD

Magnetic field plays a vital role in the description of the energy

distribution in the universe as it contains highly ionized matter. Large

scale magnetic fields give rise to anisotropies in the universe. It is

believed that the presence of electromagnetic field could alter the rate

of creation of particles in the anisotropic models. A cosmological

model which contains a global magnetic field is necessarily

anisotropic since the magnetic field vectors specify a preferred spatial

direction. Also, electromagnetic field directly affects the expansion

rate of the universe. Zeldovich and Novikov (1971) have pointed out

that Galaxies and internebular spaces exhibit the presence of strong

magnetic fields. Harrison (1973) has suggested that magnetic field

could have a cosmological origin. The presence of primordial

magnetic field of cosmological origin in the early stages of the

evolution of the universe has been discussed by eminent authors viz.

Misner et al. (1973), Melvin (1975), Asseo and Sol (1987) and Kim

et al. (1991) in his cosmological solution for dust and electromagnetic

field suggested that during the evolution of the universe, the matter

was in a highly ionized state and smoothly coupled with

electromagnetic field and consequently form a neutral matter as a

result of universe expansion. Hence in string dust universe the

presence of magnetic field is not unrealistic. The occurrence of

30
magnetic fields on galactic scale is well-established fact today, and

their importance for a variety of astrophysical phenomena is generally

acknowledged as pointed out by Zeldovich et al. (1993). As a natural

consequence, we should include magnetic fields in the energy

momentum tensor of early universe.

The energy momentum tensor for electromagnetic field is given by

Lichnerowicz (1967) in the form

2 1
Ei j h ui u j g ij hi h j
2

with is the magnetic permeability and hi the magnetic flux vector

defined by

g 2
hi ijkl F kl u j , h hl h l ,
2

where Fij is the electromagnetic field tensor, ijkl is the Levi-Civita

tensor density. Thorne (1967), Jacobs (1969), Collins (1972), Roy

and Prakash (1978), Bali (1986), Shri Ram and Singh (1995), Bali

and Ali (1996), Wang (2006), Pradhan et al. (2006, 2007) and Bali

and Pareek (2009) are some of the authors who have investigated

magnetized cosmological models for perfect fluid distribution in

Einsteins general theory of relativity.

31
[1.12] COSMIC STRINGS

The astronomical consideration reveals that the present day universe

is both spatially homogeneous and isotropic. Therefore it can be well

described by Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model. Advance

research work done by scientists and researchers lead to various

branches of cosmology such as string theory, super symmetry and

super string etc. Cosmologists are of the view that early universe is of

a different type and at some stage changed over to the present day

FRW universe.

In the last few years the study of cosmic strings has attracted

considerable interest as they are believed to play an important role

during early stages of the universe. String theory originally invented

in the Late 1960s is an attempt to find a theory to describe the

strange force. The idea was that particles like the photon and the

neutron could be regarded as waves on a string. The presence of

strings in the early universe is a by product of Grant Unified Theories

(GUT). This does not contradict present day observations of the

universe. Cosmic strings have stress energy and coupled in a simple

way to the gravitational field. Most analysis is concerned with the

gravitational effects which arise from the presence of strings. The

general relativistic treatment of cosmic strings has been originally

given by Letelier (1979, 1983) and Stachel (1980).

32
In spontaneously broken Gauge theories and the spontaneous broken

symmetry in elementary particle physics have given rise to an

intensive study of cosmic strings. It appears that after the Big-Bang

the universe may have experienced a number of phase transitions.

These phase transitions can produce vacuum domain structures such

as domain walls, cosmic strings and monopoles. Out of these

cosmological structures, cosmic strings have excited perhaps the most

interest. They may act as gravitational lenses (Vilenkin, 1981) and

may give rise to density perturbations leading to the formation of

galaxies. Later, Letelier and Verdaguer (1988) studied a new model

of cloud formed by massive strings in the context of general

relativity. They have considered the Bianchi type-I model as they are

supported to be reasonable representation of the early universe. They

observed that during the evolution of the universe the strings

disappear and the particles become important and finally end up with

galaxies. Krori et al. (1990, 1994) studied the problem of cosmic

strings taking Bianchi types I, II, III, V, VI, VIII and IX space-times

and observed that the universe was dominated by massive strings.

The energy momentum tensor for a cloud of massive strings is given

by

Tij ui u j xi x j

33
with u i ui x i xi 1 and u i xi 0 .

Here is the rest energy density of the cloud of strings with particles

attached to them (p-strings) and is the string tension density. The

vector u i describes the four-velocity of a cloud of strings and x i is a

unit space-like vector in the direction of the string. If we denote the

particle energy density by p then p .

[1.13] DOMAIN WALLS

In recent years, symmetry is proving to be a powerful unifying tool in

particle physics and cosmology because through symmetry and

symmetry breaking, particles which appear to be different in mass,

charge etc. can be understood as different states of a single unified

field theory in which all particles and fundamentals forces of nature to

unify gravity are related through a broken symmetry. It is still a

challenging problem to know the exact physical situation at early

stages of evolution of the universe. Certain grand unified field theory

predicts topological defects, such as cosmic string, domain walls and

monopoles, which might have been formed in the early phase

transition of the universe. These defects are stable field configuration

which arises in field theories with spontaneously broken discrete

symmetries. Spontaneous symmetry breaking is an old idea, described

within the particle physics in terms of the Higgs-Kibble field

34
mechanism (Kibble, 1976). The symmetry is spontaneously broken

because the ground state is not invariant under the full symmetry of

the Lagrangian identities. Thus the expected value of Higgs field in

vacuum is non-zero. In quantum field theories, broken symmetries are

restored at sufficiently high temperature.

The well-known topological defects are domain walls which occur

when a discrete symmetry is broken at a phase transition, and the

defect density is related to the domain size. According to Hill et al.

(1989) the formation of galaxies are due to domain walls produced

during phase transition after the time of recombination of matter and

radiation. The phase transition is induced by Higgs sector of the

standard model, the defects are domain walls across which the field

flips from one minimum to the other. The defect density is related to

the domain size and the dynamics of the domain walls is governed by

the surface tension . It is clear that a full analysis of the role of

domain walls in the universe imposes the study of their interaction

with particles in the primordial plasma.

[1.14] STRANGE QUARK MATTER

One of the interesting consequences of phase transition in the early

universe is the formation of strange quark matter. Itoh (1970),

Bodmer (1971) and Witten (1984) proposed two ways of formation of

quark matter, namely, the quark hadron phase transition in the early

35
universe and conversion of neutron stars into strange at ultrahigh

densities. In the theories of strong interaction, quark bag modes

suppose that breaking of physical vacuum takes place inside hadrons.

As a result, vacuum energy densities inside and outside a hadron

become essentially different and the vacuum pressure on the bag wall

equilibrates the pressure of quarks, thus stabilizing the system. If the

hypothesis of the quark matter is true, then some neutron stars could

actually be strange stars, built entirely of strange matter. In this

respect, Alcock et al. (1986), Haensel et al. (1986), Yilmaz (2005,

2006), Yavuz et al. (2005), Yilmaz and Yavuz (2006), Adhav et al.

(2008) and Khadekar et al. (2009) are some of the authors who have

confined their work to the quark matters which attached to the

topological defects in general relativity.

Typically, strange quark matter is modeled with an equation of state

based on the phenomenological bag model of quark matter, in which

quark confinement is described by an energy term proportional to

volume. In the framework of this model the quark matter is composed

of massless u, d quarks, massive s quarks and electrons. In the

simplified version of the bag model, assuming that the quarks are

1
massless and non interacting, we then have quark pressure pq q ,
3

where q is the quark energy density. The total energy density is

36
 m pq Bc

But total pressure is

pm pq Bc .

The equation of state for strange quark matter is

1
pm ( m 4 Bc ).
3

The equation of state for normal matter is given by

pm ( 1) m ,

where 1 2 is a constant.

[1.15] PROBLEMS INVESTIGATED

In this section, we mention, in brief, the problems investigated and

the results obtained in this thesis. Details of problems investigated are

given in the subsequent chapters.

Chapter II deals with spatially homogeneous and isotropic

Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological models (FRW-models) in

unified field theory based on Lyra geometry in the presence of

zero- mass scalar field and bulk viscous fluid. Cosmological solutions

of the field equations are obtained with the help of special law of

variation for Hubbles parameter and also using power law relation.

Some interesting physical consequences pertaining to the equation of

37
state p ( 1) are discussed. It has been observed that the

investigated models are free from singularities.

In Chapter III, false vacuum, radiation and stiff fluid FRW

cosmological models in Barbers (1982) second self-creation theory

of gravitation in the presence bulk viscous fluid are investigated with

the help of special law of variation for Hubbles parameter proposed

by Berman (1983). Models of this type are important in the self-

creation cosmology for the description of very early stage of the

universe expansion.

Chapter IV is devoted to the study of magnetized cosmological

model in Rosens bimetric theory of gravitation. In this chapter we

have investigated Bianchi type-I massive string barotropic perfect

fluid cosmological model filled with electromagnetic field. Some

physical and geometrical properties of the cosmological model are

briefly discussed.

In Chapter V, we have shown that the higher dimensional spherically

symmetric cosmological model in the presence of scalar meson fields

exists in Rosens bimetric theory of relativity. But the cosmological

models represented by domain walls and cosmic strings do not exists

in Rosens bimetric theory of relativity. Hence only the vacuum

models are obtained.

38
Chapter VI presents a discussion of Einstein-Rosen cylindrical

symmetric cosmological model in Einsteins general theory of

relativity. The cosmological model is obtained for domain walls with

cosmological constant and heat flow when strange quark matter and

normal matter has been attached to the domain walls. The physical

and kinematical features of the investigated models are studied and

discussed.

Chapter VII is concerned with a magnetized cosmological model in

general theory of relativity. A spatially homogeneous and anisotropic

magnetized cosmological model is investigated for perfect fluid

distribution in Einsteins general theory of relativity with varying

cosmological constant. The investigated model represents an

expanding, shearing and non-rotating universe. The physical and

geometrical features of the model have been discussed.

Chapter VIII is devoted to the study of Kantowski-Sachs

Inflationary universe in general relativity in the presence of mass less

scalar field with a constant flat potential. It is observed that the

investigated cosmological model is non singular, expanding and does

not approach anisotropy at late times. The physical properties of the

investigated model are discussed.

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