What question did this study set out to answer?

To present an updated framework for cyclic cosmology that addresses the near-adiabaticity puzzle and provides insights into cosmic evolution.

March 4, 2026Open Access

Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v21.0 - solves the near-adiabaticity puzzle

Key Points

To present an updated framework for cyclic cosmology that addresses the near-adiabaticity puzzle and provides insights into cosmic evolution.
Developed a minimal cosmological model incorporating a complex scalar field.
Utilized Planck-suppressed interactions and a two-sector structure to replace global time assumptions.
Explored thermodynamic properties and curvature perturbations throughout contraction and expansion phases.
Demonstrated smooth, ghost-free bounces in the Universe with finite curvature invariants.
Produced nearly scale-invariant curvature perturbations and damped isocurvature modes, leading to near-adiabaticity.
Revealed a temperature asymmetry yielding the observed dark-matter-to-baryon ratio.

Abstract

This document presents v21. 0 of Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC), a minimal and nonsingular cosmological framework where the Universe undergoes an infinite sequence of smooth contraction and expansion phases. Formulated entirely within standard General Relativity and a single complex scalar field, RDCC incorporates the leading Planck-suppressed interaction between two CPT-conjugate sectors sharing the same spacetime metric. This two-sector structure replaces the assumption of a globally directed time with a CPT-symmetric description, making thermodynamic arrows, entropy production, and matter-antimatter asymmetries emergent, sector-dependent phenomena. The global system remains entropy-conserving, resolving the Tolman entropy problem without inflation, modified gravity, or additional fields. The scalar potential features a radiatively tilted double-well structure augmented by an ekpyrotic term dominant during contraction. Combined with bounded effective Friedmann corrections from the EFT expansion, these elements produce a smooth, ghost-free bounce with finite curvature invariants. The ekpyrotic phase generates a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of curvature perturbations, while the Planck-suppressed cross-sector interaction damps isocurvature modes as a^-α, driving the Universe toward near-adiabaticity. A key outcome of the relaxation mechanism is a temperature asymmetry between sectors, naturally yielding the observed dark-matter-to-baryon ratio through exponential sensitivity to the relaxation parameter α. This parameter also induces small, correlated deviations from ΛCDM in growth rates and the matter power spectrum, plus a modest ∆Nₑff contribution. RDCC provides a unified explanation for nonsingular evolution, dark matter, baryon asymmetry, the thermodynamic arrow, and primordial near-adiabaticity. Its predictions, derived from a single infrared parameter, are testable with upcoming large-scale structure and CMB experiments, offering a structurally simple yet observationally rich alternative to standard cosmology. Changes from v20. 0: Enhanced emphasis on EFT consistency with dimension-8 operators and positivity bounds; explicit resolution of the near-adiabaticity puzzle via isocurvature damping; refined perturbation theory and phenomenological predictions. This version builds on: Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v1. 0: A Minimal Eternal Framework and Its Dynamical Realization: https: //zenodo. org/records/18281686 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v2. 0: A Minimal Eternal Framework with Dynamical Realization and Extensions: https: //zenodo. org/records/18304744 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v5. 0: Bounce-Matching Formalism, Mirror-Sector Dynamics, and Refined Gravitational Waves: https: //zenodo. org/records/18307836 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v6. 0: Black Hole Bounces as Local CPT-Fixpoints, Full Perturbation Transfer Matrix and Mirror-Sector Microphysics: https: //zenodo. org/records/18312656 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v7. 0: Quantum-Corrected Black Hole Bounces, Full Perturbation Transfer Matrix with Phase-Shift, and Mirror Microphysics https: //zenodo. org/records/18327084 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v8. 0: Parameter Space Exploration, Data Confrontation, and Predictive Structure Formation https: //zenodo. org/records/18334398 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v9. 0: Predictive Cosmology, Nonlinear Structure Formation, and Astrophysical Signatures https: //zenodo. org/records/18336237 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v10. 0: Unified Cosmology, Full Simulations, and Observational Pipelines https: //zenodo. org/records/18336865 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v11. 0: Entropy Dynamics, Mirror Thermodynamics, EFT Consistency, and Naturalness https: //zenodo. org/records/18341147 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v12. 0: Precision Predictions, Multi-Probe Confrontation, and Quantum-Geometric Completion https: //zenodo. org/records/18346555 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v13. 0: Quantum Completion, Global Consistency, and Predictive Cosmology https: //zenodo. org/records/18348450 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v14. 0: Unified Quantum Gravity, Full-Cycle Simulation, and Multi-Messenger Precision Cosmology https: //zenodo. org/records/18351916 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v15. 0: Mirror-Sector Cosmology, Hidden-Universe Gravitational Waves, and Two-Sector Evolution https: //zenodo. org/records/18358095 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v16. 0: Precision Two-Sector Dynamics, Mirror Thermodynamics Refinements, and Enhanced GW Forecasts https: //zenodo. org/records/18388123 Relaxation-Driven Cyclic Cosmology (RDCC) v17. 0 - Minimal Effective Two-Sector Version https: //zenodo. org/records/18761806 While the core of RDCC remains a structural, timeless framework with fixpoint character, this document explores a dynamical realization of the bounce mechanism to enable concrete, falsifiable predictions. Related documents and the full RDCC ecosystem are available via Zenodo: https: //zenodo. org/records/18204087 Michael Lehmannmi. lehmann@gmx. de

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