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In this article, we summarize two agnostic approaches in the framework of spatially curved Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmologies discussed in detail in (Kerachian et al., 2020, 2019). The first case concerns the dynamics of a fluid with an unspecified barotropic equation of state (EoS), for which the only assumption made is the non-negativity of the fluid's energy density. The second case concerns the dynamics of a non-minimally coupled real scalar field with unspecified positive potential. For each of these models, we define a new set of dimensionless variables and a new evolution parameter. In the framework of these agnostic setups, we are able to identify several general features, like symmetries, invariant subsets and critical points, and provide their cosmological interpretation., Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures, 1 table

In the context of dark energy solutions, we consider a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime filled with a non-interacting mixture of dust and a viscous fluid, whose bulk viscosity is governed by the nonlinear model proposed in [15]. Through a phase space analysis of the equivalent dynamical system, existence and stability of critical solutions are established and the respective scale factors are computed. The results point towards the possibility of describing the current accelerated expansion of the Universe by means of the abovementioned nonlinear model for viscosity., Comment: 12 pages, 7 figures

In the present paper, Unruh--DeWitt detectors are used in order to investigate the issue of temperature associated with a spherically symmetric dynamical space-times. Firstly, we review the semi-classical tunneling method, then we introduce the Unruh--DeWitt detector approach. We show that for the generic static black hole case and the FRW de Sitter case, making use of peculiar Kodama trajectories, semiclassical and quantum field theoretic techniques give the same standard and well known thermal interpretation, with an associated temperature, corrected by appropriate Tolman factors. For a FRW space-time interpolating de Sitter space with the Einstein--de Sitter universe (that is a more realistic situation in the frame of $\Lambda$CDM cosmologies), we show that the detector response splits into a de Sitter contribution plus a fluctuating term containing no trace of Boltzmann-like factors, but rather describing the way thermal equilibrium is reached in the late time limit. As a consequence, and unlike the case of black holes, the identification of the dynamical surface gravity of a cosmological trapping horizon as an effective temperature parameter seems lost, at least for our co-moving simplified detectors. The possibility remains that a detector performing a proper motion along a Kodama trajectory may register something more, in which case the horizon surface gravity would be associated more likely to vacuum correlations than to particle creation., Comment: 19 pages, to appear on IJTP. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1101.5254

The aim of this work is to review the tunnelling method as an alternative description of the quantum radiation from black holes and cosmological horizons. The method is first formulated and discussed for the case of stationary black holes, then a foundation is provided in terms of analytic continuation throughout complex space-time. The two principal implementations of the tunnelling approach, which are the null geodesic method and the Hamilton-Jacobi method, are shown to be equivalent in the stationary case. The Hamilton-Jacobi method is then extended to cover spherically symmetric dynamical black holes, cosmological horizons and naked singularities. Prospects and achievements are discussed in the conclusions., Comment: Topical Review commissioned and accepted for publication by "Classical and Quantum Gravity". 101 pages; 6 figures

In the paper, the temperature associated with a dynamical spherically symmetric black hole or with a cosmological horizon is investigated from the point of view of a point-like detector. First, we briefly review the Hamilton-Jacobi tunneling method for a generic dynamical spherically symmetric space-time, and present two applications of the tunneling method. Then, we apply a well-known relativistic quantum theoretical technique, namely the Unruh-DeWitt detector formalism for a conformally coupled scalar field in a generic FRW space-time. As an application, for the generic static black hole case and the FRW de Sitter case, making use of peculiar Kodama observer trajectories, the tunneling semiclassical results are fully recovered, automatically corrected by Tolman factors. Some remarks on the temperature of FRW universe are presented. For more general spaces interpolating de Sitter space with the Einstein-de Sitter universe a second set of poles is present, whose exact role remains to be clarified, plus an extra fluctuating term describing the way equilibrium is reached, similarly to de Sitter space. The simple thermal interpretation found for de Sitter space is lost and forces, at a same time, a different quantum interpretation of the horizon surface gravity for the cosmological FRW models., Comment: 24 pages; 1 figure

We give an interpretation of the temperature in de Sitter universe in terms of a dynamical Unruh effect associated with the Hubble sphere. As with the quantum noise perceived by a uniformly accelerated observer in static space-times, observers endowed with a proper motion can in principle detect the effect. In particular, we study a "Kodama observer" as a two-field Unruh detector for which we show the effect is approximately thermal. We also estimate the back-reaction of the emitted radiation and find trajectories associated with the Kodama vector fields are stable., Comment: 8 pages; corrected typos; sections structure revised