Usually when applying the mimetic model to the early universe, higher derivative terms are needed to promote the mimetic field to be dynamical. However such models suffer from the ghost and/or the gradient instabilities and simple extensions cannot cure this pathology. We point out in this paper that it is possible to overcome this difficulty by considering the direct couplings of the higher derivatives of the mimetic field to the curvature of the spacetime. PACS number(s): 98.80.-k * Electronic address: limz@ustc.edu.cn

The original mimetic model was proposed to take the role of dark matter. In this paper we consider possible direct interactions of the mimetic dark matter with other matter in the universe, especially the standard model particles such as baryons and photons. By imposing shift symmetry, the mimetic dark matter field can only have derivative couplings. We discuss the possibilities of generating baryon number asymmetry and cosmic birefringence in the universe based on the derivative couplings of the mimetic dark matter to baryons and photons.PACS number(s): 98.80.Cq

It is known that some cosmological perturbations are conformal invariant. This facilitates the studies of perturbations within some gravitational theories alternative to general relativity, for example the scalar-tensor theory, because it is possible to do equivalent analysis in a certain frame in which the perturbation equations are simpler. In this paper we revisit the problem of conformal invariances of cosmological perturbations in terms of the covariant approach in which the perturbation variables have clear geometric and physical meanings. We show that with this approach the conformal invariant perturbations are easily identified. PACS number(s): 98.80.-k

In this study, we investigate the possibilities of generating baryon number asymmetry under thermal equilibrium within the frameworks of teleparallel and symmetric teleparallel gravities. Through the derivative couplings of the torsion scalar and the non-metricity scalar to baryons, baryon number asymmetry is produced in the radiation dominated epoch. For gravitational baryogenesis mechanisms in these two frameworks, the produced baryon-to-entropy ratio is too small to be consistent with observations. However, the gravitational leptogenesis models within both frameworks have the potential to explain the observed baryon-antibaryon asymmetry.

In recent years there has been a lot of interest in discussing frame dependences/independences of the cosmological perturbations under the conformal transformations. This problem has previously been investigated in terms of the covariant approach for a single component universe, and it was found that the covariant approach is very powerful to pick out the perturbative variables which are both gauge and conformal invariant. In this work, we extend the covariant approach to a universe with multicomponent fluids. We find that similar results can be derived, as expected. In addition, some other interesting perturbations are also identified to be conformal invariant, such as entropy perturbation between two different components.PACS number(s): 98.80.-k * Electronic address: limz@ustc.edu.cn