Dark energy and accelerating cosmological evolution in a Universe with a Weylian boundary

Abstract We investigate the influence of boundary terms in gravitational field theories, by considering that in the Einstein–Hilbert action the boundary can be described by a non-metric Weyl-type geometry. The gravitational action and the the field equations, are thus generalized to include new geometrical terms, coming from the non-metric nature of the boundary, and depending on the Weyl vector, and its covariant derivatives. The field equations obtained within this framework generalize the standard Einstein equations by including in their mathematical structure the Weyl vector, and its covariant derivatives. As an applications of the general formalism we investigate the cosmological evolution in a flat FLRW geometry. We obtain the generalized Friedmann equations, which contain extra terms depending on the Weyl vector and its derivatives, arising due to the presence of the Weylian boundary, and which describe an effective, time dependent dark energy. By imposing to the dark energy an equation of state parameter of the Barboza–Alcaniz type, the Friedmann equations can be solved numerically. We compare the predictions of the Weylian boundary gravitational theory with late-time observational data and the predictions of the $$\Lambda $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>Λ</mml:mi> </mml:math> CDM paradigm. Our results show that the Weylian boundary cosmological models give a good description of the observational data, and they can reproduce almost exactly the predictions of the $$\Lambda $$ <mml:math xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML"> <mml:mi>Λ</mml:mi> </mml:math> CDM paradigm. Hence, the extension of gravitational theories through the addition of Weylian boundary terms, in which dark energy has a purely geometric origin, emerges as a viable alternative to standard general relativity.