Using a confining potential, we consider spherically symmetric vacuum (static black hole) solutions in a brane-world scenario. Working with a constant curvature bulk, two interesting cases/solutions are studied. A Schwarzschild-de Sitter black hole solution similar to the standard solution in the presence of a cosmological constant is obtained which confirms the idea that an extra term in the field equations on the brane can play the role of a positive cosmological constant and may be used to account for the accelerated expansion of the universe. The other solution is one in which we can have a proper potential to explain the galaxy rotation curves without assuming the existence of dark matter and without working with new modified theories (modified Newtonian dynamics).

We construct the Einstein field equations on a 4-dimensional brane embedded in an $m$-dimensional bulk where the matter fields are confined to the brane by means of a confining potential. As a result, an extra term in the Friedmann equation in a $m$-dimensional bulk appears that may be interpreted as the X-matter, providing a possible phenomenological explanation for the acceleration of the universe. The study of the relevant observational data suggests good agreement with the predictions of this model.Comment: 10 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Phys. Lett.

We consider an anisotropic brane world with Bianchi type I and V geometries where the mechanism of confining the matter on the brane is through the use of a confining potential. The resulting equations on the anisotropic brane are modified by an extra term that may be interpreted as the x-matter, providing a possible phenomenological explanation for the accelerated expansion of the universe. We obtain the general solution of the field equations in an exact parametric form for both Bianchi type I and V space-times. In the special case of a Bianchi type I the solutions of the field equations are obtained in an exact analytic form. Finally, we study the behavior of the observationally important parameters.Comment: 14 pages, 3 figures, to appear in PL

The generalized Chaplygin gas provides an interesting candidate for the present accelerated expansion of the universe. We explore a geometrical explanation for the generalized Chaplygin gas within the context of brane world theories where matter fields are confined to the brane by means of the action of a confining potential. We obtain the modified Friedmann equations, deceleration parameter and age of the universe in this scenario and show that they are consistent with the present observational data.

We consider spherically symmetric solutions within the context of brane-world theory without mirror symmetry or any form of junction conditions. For a constant curvature bulk, we obtain the modified Tolman-Oppenheimer-Volkoff (TOV) interior solutions in two cases where one is matched to a schwarzschild-de Sitter exterior while the other is consistent with an exterior solution whose structure can be used to explain the galaxy rotation curves without postulating dark matter. We also find the upper bound to the mass of a static brane-world star and show that the influence of the bulk effects on the interior solutions is small. Finally, we investigate the gravitational collapse on the brane and show that the exterior of a collapsing star can be static in this scenario.