New cosmological singularities in braneworld models

Higher-dimensional braneworld models which contain both bulk and brane curvature terms in the action admit cosmological singularities of rather unusual form and nature. These ‘quiescent ’ singularities, which can occur both during the contracting as well as the expanding phase, are characterised by the fact that while the matter density and Hubble parameter remain finite, all higher derivatives of the scale factor (.. a,... a etc.) diverge as the cosmological singularity is approached. The singularities are the result of the embedding of the (3+1)-dimensional brane in the bulk and can exist even in an empty homogeneous and isotropic (FRW) universe. The possibility that the present universe may expand into a singular state is discussed. In this letter, we would like to draw attention to the fact that braneworld theory admits cosmological singularities of very unusual form and nature. The theory we work with in this paper is described by the action