In this thesis we present three research projects in classical General Relativity and Cosmology. In the first part of the thesis we investigate the definition of gravitational charge corresponding to the asymptotic boost symmetry of a spacetime and derive its role in the first law of black hole thermodynamics. In the cosmology part, we investigate the role of a scalar field in the early and late time evolution of the Universe. We find out observational constraints on the pseudo Nambu Goldstone Boson quintessence model using the latest supernova and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data. In an attempt to explain a particular anomaly in the latest CMB data, we propose a modification to the standard single field inflation based on the initial kinetic energy domination with anisotropic initial conditions. Predictions of this mechanism can be tested in future data analysis.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-4834 |
| Date | 01 January 2007 |
| Creators | Dutta, Koushik |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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