Evolution of the Universe in the field theory of gravitation

The evolution of the Universe is considered in detail by treating the gravitational field as a physical field with spins 2 and 0, its source being the total energy-momentum tensor of matter and gravitational field conserved in the Minkowski space. In the framework of this approach, it is shown that the space geometry of the Universe should be flat and that the gravitational field has a new and surprising property: in strong fields, it generates effective repulsive forces, which stop gravitational contraction. It is precisely this property that results in the elimination of the cosmological singularity and in the cyclic evolution of the Universe. The use of the causality principle, which the evolution of a physical gravitational field should satisfy, shows that the expansion of the Universe cannot be infinite. Therefore, the theory is not compatible with the presence of a constant cosmological term or a phantom expansion. In order to explain the observed accelerated expansion, it is necessary to introduce the notion of "quintessence," the density of which decreases as the scale factor increases (slower than const/a(2)). From data on the anisotropy of microwave background radiation, the upper limit on graviton mass is found to be 5000 times stronger than the existing estimates of graviton mass; in addition, a possible value of the graviton mass is given within experimental errors. This value is used for detem-Lining the instants of time corresponding to beginning and end of the present acceleration stage. In addition, the maximal time of expansion of the Universe, which gives way to contraction up to a certain maximal density rho(max) is found. Both the graviton mass and pm, are parameters of the theory.