Cosmology on a brane in Minkowski bulk

We discuss the cosmology of a 3-brane embedded in a 5D bulk space-time with a cosmological constant when an intrinsic curvature Ricci scalar is included in the brane action. After deriving the 'brane-Friedmann' equations for a Z(2) symmetrical metric, we focus on the case of a Minkowski bulk. We show that there exist two classes of solutions, close to the usual Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker cosmology for small enough Hubble radii. When the Hubble radius gets larger one either has a transition to a fully 5D regime or to a self-inflationary solution which produces a late accelerated expansion. We also compare our results with a perturbative approach and eventually discuss the embedding of the brane into the Minkowski space-time. This latter part of our discussion also applies when no intrinsic curvature term is included. (C) 2001 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.