Inflationary cosmology and the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe in nonminimal Yang-Mills-F(R) gravity and nonminimal vector-F(R) gravity

We study inflationary cosmology and the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe in nonminimal Yang-Mills (YM) theory, in which the YM field couples to a function of the scalar curvature. It is shown that power-law inflation can be realized due to the nonminimal YM field-gravitational coupling which may be caused by quantum corrections. Moreover, it is demonstrated that both inflation and the late-time accelerated expansion of the universe can be realized in a modified YM-F(R) gravity which is consistent with solar-system tests. Furthermore, it is shown that this result can be realized also in a nonminimal vector-F(R) gravity. In addition, we consider the duality of the nonminimal electromagnetic theory and that of the nonminimal YM theory, and also discuss the cosmological reconstruction of the YM theory.