Brane universes with variable G and (lambda)(4)

We investigate the cosmological consequences of a braneworld theory which incorporates time variations in the gravitational coupling G and the cosmological term (lambda)(4). We analyse in detail the model where Gdot/G ~ H and (lambda)(4) ~ H2, which seems to be favoured by observations. We show that these conditions single out models with flat space sections. We determine the behaviour of the expansion scale factor, as well as the variation of G, (lambda)(4) and H, for different possible scenarios where the bulk cosmological constant, (lambda)(5), can be zero, positive or negative. We demonstrate that the universe must recollapse, if it is embedded in an anti-de Sitter five-dimensional bulk, which is the usual case in brane models. We evaluate the cosmological parameters, using some observational data, and show that we are nowhere near the time of recollapse. We conclude that the models with zero and negative bulk cosmological constants agree with the observed accelerating universe, while fitting simultaneously the observational data for the density and deceleration parameters. The age of the universe, even in the recollapsing case, is much larger than in the Friedmann–Robertson–Walker universe.