Noether Symmetry in $f(T)$ Theory

Hao Wei, Xiao-Jiao Guo, Long-Fei Wang

Published 2011-12-10, updated 2012-01-08Version 3

As is well known, symmetry plays an important role in the theoretical physics. In particular, the well-known Noether symmetry is an useful tool to select models motivated at a fundamental level, and find the exact solution to the given Lagrangian. In the present work, we try to consider Noether symmetry in $f(T)$ theory. At first, we briefly discuss the Lagrangian formalism of $f(T)$ theory. In particular, the point-like Lagrangian is explicitly constructed. Based on this Lagrangian, the explicit form of $f(T)$ theory and the corresponding exact solution are found by requiring Noether symmetry. In the resulting $f(T)=\mu T^n$ theory, the universe experiences a power-law expansion $a(t)\sim t^{2n/3}$. Furthermore, we consider the physical quantities corresponding to the exact solution, and find that if $n>3/2$ the expansion of our universe can be accelerated without invoking dark energy. Also, we test the exact solution of this $f(T)$ theory with the latest Union2 Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa) dataset which consists of 557 SNIa, and find that it can be well consistent with the observational data in fact.