Several authors have argued that self-consistent $f(R)$ gravity models distinct from the cold dark matter model with a cosmological constant ($\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$) are almost ruled out. Confronting such claims, we present a particular two-parameter $f(R)$ model that (a) is cosmologically viable and distinguishable from $\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$, (b) is compatible with the existence of relativistic stars, (c) is free of singularities of the Ricci scalar during the cosmological evolution, and (d) allows the addition of high-curvature corrections that could be relevant for inflation.

We show that entropy perturbations can eliminate instabilities and oscillations in the mass power spectrum of the quartessence Chaplygin models. Our results enlarge the current parameter space of models compatible with large-scale structure and cosmic microwave background observations.

Warm inflation is an interesting possibility to describe the early universe, whose basic feature is the absence, at least in principle, of a preheating or reheating phase. Here we analyze the dynamics of warm inflation generalizing the usual slow-roll parameters that are useful for characterizing the inflationary phase. We study the evolution of entropy and adiabatic perturbations, where the main result is that for a very small amount of dissipation the entropy perturbations can be neglected and the purely adiabatic perturbations will be responsible for the primordial spectrum of inhomogeneities. Taking into account the Cosmic Background Explorer Differential Microwave Radiometer data of the cosmic microwave background anisotropy as well as the fact that the interval of inflation for which the scales of astrophysical interest cross outside the Hubble radius is about 50 e-folds before the end of inflation, we could estimate the magnitude of the dissipation term. It is also possible to show that at the end of inflation the universe is hot enough to provide a smooth transition to the radiation era.

We investigate the equilibrium and radial stability of spherically symmetric relativistic stars, considering a polytropic equation of state (EoS), within the framework of f(R,T) gravity with a conservative energy-momentum tensor. Both modified stellar structure equations and Chandrasekhar's pulsation equations are derived for the f(R,T)= R+ h(T) gravity model, where the function h(T) assumes a specific form in order to safeguard the conservation equation for the energy-momentum tensor. The neutron star properties, such as radius, mass, binding energy and oscillation spectrum are studied in detail. Our results show that a cusp — which signals the appearance of instability — is formed when the binding energy is plotted as a function of the compact star proper mass. We find that the squared frequency of the fundamental vibration mode passes through zero at the central-density value corresponding to such a cusp where the binding energy is a minimum.

In this paper, we calculate the spectrum of scalar field fluctuations in a bouncing, asymptotically flat universe, and investigate the dependence of the result on changes in the physics on length scales shorter than the Planck length which are introduced via modifications of the dispersion relation. In this model, there are no ambiguities concerning the choice of the initial vacuum state. We study an example in which the final spectrum of fluctuations depends sensitively on the modifications of the dispersion relation without needing to invoke complex frequencies. Changes in the amplitude and in the spectral index are possible, in addition to modulations of the spectrum. This strengthens the conclusions of previous work in which the spectrum of cosmological perturbations in expanding inflationary cosmologies was studied, and it was found that, for dispersion relations for which the evolution is not adiabatic, the predictions obtained for the spectrum of fluctuations are not robust towards changes in the dispersion relation.