NONMINIMAL COUPLING, NO-HAIR THEOREM AND MATTER COSMOLOGIES

We extend the cosmic no-hair theorem to theories of gravity nonminimal ly coupled with a scalar field in the presence of ordinary matter in t he form of a perfect fluid. The results generalize those obtained in a previous paper. Now we give more realistic scenarios, in particular w e consider photon-like or dust-like matter. It is possible, in general , to avoid the initial singularity and the universe evolves toward a d e Sitter asymptotic stage.