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Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem

Includes abstract.

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Main Author: Kubwimana, Jean Claude
Other Authors: Bassett, Bruce
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Astronomy 2014
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access_status_str Open Access
author Kubwimana, Jean Claude
author2 Bassett, Bruce
author_browse Bassett, Bruce
Kubwimana, Jean Claude
author_facet Bassett, Bruce
Kubwimana, Jean Claude
author_sort Kubwimana, Jean Claude
collection Thesis
description Includes abstract.
format Thesis
id oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6102
institution University of Cape Town (South Africa)
language eng
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:40:27.438Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
publishDate 2014
publishDateRange 2014
publishDateSort 2014
publisher Department of Astronomy
publisherStr Department of Astronomy
record_format dspace
source_str UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6102 Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem Kubwimana, Jean Claude Bassett, Bruce Astrophysics and Space Science Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 83-89). In the standard model of the Universe, the cosmos has only accelerated once since decoupling and only recently, at around a redshift of z ̃ 0.5 as supported by different observations including Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa), the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), Large Scale Structure (LSS), and Weak Lensing (WL). This confirmation however, lacks a fundamental physics explanation. The hypothetical form of energy termed 'dark energy' (DE) assumed to account for that acceleration behavior, is still mysterious and why its dominance only occurred recently is a profound problem widely known as the coincidence problem. So far all attempts for resolving the coincidence the problem have been unsatisfactory. Here we investigate a possible solution to the coincidence problem in the form of multiples phases of acceleration (MPA). If there were more than one phase of acceleration between now and decoupling, then the current phase of acceleration would be much less special, alleviating the coincidence problem. We use a modified Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) technique together with the WMAP five year TT data to search for parameters allowing a second phase of acceleration. Despite extensive search we find no models that simultaneously fit the WMAP data and yield a second phase of acceleration, ruling out this particular set of models as the solution to the coincidence problem. 2014-08-13T13:57:59Z 2014-08-13T13:57:59Z 2009 Master Thesis Masters MSc http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6102 eng application/pdf Department of Astronomy Faculty of Science University of Cape Town
spellingShingle Astrophysics and Space Science
Kubwimana, Jean Claude
Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
title_full Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
title_fullStr Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
title_full_unstemmed Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
title_short Cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
title_sort cosmic acceleration and the coincidence problem
topic Astrophysics and Space Science
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6102
work_keys_str_mv AT kubwimanajeanclaude cosmicaccelerationandthecoincidenceproblem