Galaxies 2014, 2(1), 72-80; doi:10.3390/galaxies2010072
Metamaterial Model of Tachyonic Dark Energy
Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742, USA
Received: 17 December 2013 / Revised: 21 January 2014 / Accepted: 5 February 2014 / Published: 17 February 2014
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Beyond Standard Gravity and Cosmology)
Abstract
Dark energy with negative pressure and positive energy density is believed to be responsible for the accelerated expansion of the universe. Quite a few theoretical models of dark energy are based on tachyonic fields interacting with itself and normal (bradyonic) matter. Here, we propose an experimental model of tachyonic dark energy based on hyperbolic metamaterials. Wave equation describing propagation of extraordinary light inside hyperbolic metamaterials exhibits 2 + 1 dimensional Lorentz symmetry. The role of time in the corresponding effective 3D Minkowski spacetime is played by the spatial coordinate aligned with the optical axis of the metamaterial. Nonlinear optical Kerr effect bends this spacetime resulting in effective gravitational force between extraordinary photons. We demonstrate that this model has a self-interacting tachyonic sector having negative effective pressure and positive effective energy density. Moreover, a composite multilayer SiC-Si hyperbolic metamaterial exhibits closely separated tachyonic and bradyonic sectors in the long wavelength infrared range. This system may be used as a laboratory model of inflation and late time acceleration of the universe.Keywords:
dark energy; analogue spacetime; hyperbolic metamaterial
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Smolyaninov, I.I. Metamaterial Model of Tachyonic Dark Energy. Galaxies 2014, 2, 72-80.
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