A STUDY OF EVOLUTION OF COSMOLOGICAL PARAMETERS BASED ON A DARK ENERGY MODEL IN THE FRAMEWORK OF BRANS-DICKE GRAVITY

The objective of the present study is to find the characteristics of evolution of a homogeneous and isotropic universe in the framework of Brans-Dicke (BD) theory of gravity. FLRW space-time, with zero spatial curvature, has been used to obtain BD field equations. Scale factor and Hubble parameter have been obtained from an ansatz for the deceleration parameter, assumed on the basis of its property of signature flip indicating a change of phase from deceleration to acceleration. Validation of the model has been achieved by a suitable parametrization of that ansatz. Expressions for energy density, pressure, equation of state (EoS) parameter, cosmological constant, gravitational constant have been derived and depicted graphically. The gravitational constant is found to decrease with time at a gradually decreasing rate. The Hubble parameter, deceleration parameter and energy density decrease with time, which is in agreement with many other studies. The value of the EoS parameter at the present epoch is negative, and it becomes more negative with time. The cosmological constant increases very rapidly in the early universe from negative to smaller negative values, becoming positive finally, with a much slower change thereafter. A cosmographic and a geometrical analysis have been carried out. It is observed that a gradual transition takes place from a regime of quintessence to phantom dark energy. An important finding of this study is that the signature flip of the deceleration parameter takes place almost simultaneously with the signature flip of the cosmological constant, implying a connection between accelerated expansion and dark energy, which is represented here by the cosmological constant. Unlike the common practice of using arbitrary units, proper SI units for all measurable quantities have been used. This theoretical investigation provides the reader with a simple method to formulate models in the framework of BD theory.