Accelerated expansion of the universe `a la the Stueckelberg mechanism

Abstract

We investigate a cosmological model in which the Stueckelberg fields are nonminimally coupled to the scalar curvature in a gauge invariant manner. We present not only a solution that can be considered in the context of the late time acceleration of the universe but also a solution compatible with the inflationary cosmology. Distinct behaviors of the scalar and vector fields together with the real valued mass gained by the Stueckelberg mechanism lead the universe to go through the two different accelerated expansion phases with a decelerated expansion phase between them. On the other hand, in the solutions we present, if the mass is null then the universe is either static or exhibits a simple power law expansion due to the vector field potential.