Accelerated Expansion as Predicted by an Ether Theory of Gravitation

Cosmology is investigated within a new, scalar theory of gravitation, which is a preferred-frame bimetric theory with flat background metric. An analytical solution is obtained for a general form of the energy-momentum tensor. According to the theory investigated, expansion is necessarily accelerated, both by the vacuum and even by matter. The Universe follows a sequence of (non-identical) contraction-expansion cycles. The current cycle began several tenths of billions of years ago, depending on the exact values of the current Hubble parameter and the current energy density, and will end by infinite dilution in some six billions of years. The maximum energy density was only a few times greater than the current one. The origin of the 2.7 K background and the light elements might possibly be researched in " little big bangs " with matter creation, as advocated by Hoyle et al.: matter creation is indeed predicted by the ether theory