Trans-Planckian Physics and Inflationary Cosmology
Abstract
Due to the quasi-exponential red-shifting which occurs during an inflationary period in the very early Universe, wavelengths which at the present time correspond to cosmological lengths are in general sub-Planckian during the early stages of inflation. This talk discusses two approaches to addressing this issue which both indicate that the standard predictions of inflationary cosmology - made using classical general relativity and weakly coupled scalar matter field theory - are not robust against changes in the physics on trans-Planckian scales. One approach makes use of modified dispersion relations for a usual free field scalar matter theory, the other uses some properties of space-time non-commutativity - a feature expected in string theory. Thus, it is possible that cosmological observations may be used as a window to explore trans-Planckian physics. We also speculate on a novel way of obtaining inflation based on modified dispersion relations for ordinary radiation.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.hep-th/0210186,
title = {Trans-Planckian Physics and Inflationary Cosmology},
author = {Robert H. Brandenberger},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:hep-th/0210186},
year = {2017}
}
Comments
14 pages, 1 figure invited plenary talk at CosPA2002 (National Taiwan Univ., Taipei, Taiwan), to be publ. in the proceedings. Two references added, discussion extended