We generalize the basic theory of mimetic gravity by extending its purview to the general metriccompatible geometries that admit torsion, in addition to curvature. This essentially implies reinstating the mimetic principle of isolating the conformal degree of freedom of gravity in presence of torsion, by parametrizing both the physical metric and torsion in terms of the scalar 'mimetic' field and the metric and torsion of a fiducial space. We assert the requisite torsion parametrization from an inspection of the fiducial space Cartan transformation which, together with the conformal transformation of the fiducial metric, preserve the physical metric and torsion. In formulating the scalar-tensor equivalent Lagrangian, we consider an explicit contact coupling of the mimetic field with torsion, so that the former can manifest itself geometrically as the source of a torsion mode, and most importantly, give rise to a viable 'dark universe' picture from a mimicry of an evolving dust-like cosmological fluid with a non-zero pressure. A further consideration of higher derivatives of the mimetic field in the Lagrangian leads to physical bounds on the mimetic-torsion coupling strength, which we determine explicitly. * transformation of g µν , but also implicates that φ is left non-dynamical by the condition for the invertibility of g µν , viz. −κ 2 g µν ∂ µ φ∂ ν φ = 1 . This condition could be implemented in the theory as a constraint, using a Lagrange multiplier λ in an equivalent mimetic action. A further equivalence of the latter with the singular Brans-Dicke (BD) action (in which the BD parameter w = − 3 2 ) eventually shows that mimetic gravity is indeed a ratification of GR being raised to the status of a scalar-tensor equivalent MG theory [21][22][23][24]29].Detailed studies have revealed many attractive features of the basic mimetic model of Chemseddine and Mukhanov (henceforth, the CM model [21]) and its various extensions, from the perspectives of both cosmology and astrophysics . In particular, the CM Lagrangian extended by a potential V (φ) leads to the scenarios of a cosmologically evolving fluid -the so-called 'mimetic fluid' -which characterizes dust, albeit with a nonvanishing pressure 1 [22]. As such, no propagating scalar perturbation mode is there to suppress the growth of structures at smaller (sub-galactic) scales [26,27]. Nor it is possible to define the quantum fluctuations to the (non-dynamical) field φ, so that the latter can provide the seeds of the observed large scale structure of the universe [22,23]. A reasonable supposition has therefore been to extend the CM theory further by incorporating higher derivative (HD) term(s) for φ, e.g. (✷φ) 2 , which lead(s) to a non-vanishing sound speed c s of the mimetic matter perturbations, keeping the background solution unaffected qualitatively 2 [22,23,29]. However, the HD terms in general make the theory susceptible to Ostrogradsky ghost or(and) gradient instabilities [26,27,[64][65][66][67], possible wayouts of which point to more complicated extensions...
We extend the basic formalism of mimetic-metric-torsion gravity theory, in a way that the mimetic scalar field can manifest itself geometrically as the source of not just the trace mode of torsion, but its axial (or, pseudo-trace) mode as well. Specifically, we consider the mimetic field to be (i) coupled explicitly to the well-known Holst extension of the Riemann–Cartan action, and (ii) identified with the square of the associated Barbero–Immirzi field, presumably a pseudo-scalar. The conformal symmetry originally prevaling in the theory would still hold, as the associated Cartan transformations do not affect the torsion pseudo-trace, and hence the Holst term. Demanding the theory to preserve the spatial parity symmetry as well, we show a geometric unification of the cosmological dark sector, and the feasibility of a super-accelerating regime in the course of evolution of the universe. From the observational perspective, assuming the cosmological evolution profile to be very close to that for $$\varLambda $$ Λ CDM, we further illustrate a smooth crossing of the so-called phantom barrier at a low red-shift, albeit with a restricted parametric domain. Subsequently, we determine the extent of the super-acceleration by examining the evolution of the relevant torsion parameters.
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