Related papers: Graceful exit via polymerization of pre-big bang c…
We discuss the possibility of a smooth transition from the pre- to the post-big bang regime, in the context of the lowest-order string effective action (without higher-derivative corrections), taking into account with a phenomenological…
One of the greatest problems of standard cosmology is the Big Bang singularity. Previously it has been shown that non-local ghostfree higher-derivative modifications of Einstein gravity in the ultra-violet regime can admit non-singular…
We analyze the semiclassical polymer dynamics of the inhomogeneous Mixmaster model by choosing the cubed scale factor as the discretized configurational variable, while the anisotropies remain pure Einsteinian variables. Such a modified…
Alternative scenarios to the Big Bang singularity have been subject of intense research for several decades by now. Most popular in this sense have been frameworks were such singularity is replaced by a bounce around some minimal…
We present a brief review of recent advances in string cosmology. Starting with the Dilaton-Moduli Cosmology (known also as the Pre Big Bang), we go on to include the effects of axion fields and address the thorny issue of the Graceful Exit…
We show that, in the presence of a string gas, simple higher-derivative modifications to the effective action for gravity can lead to bouncing and cyclic cosmological models. The modifications bound the expansion rate and avoid…
We study the cosmological evolution based upon a $D$-dimensional action in low-energy effective string theory in the presence of second-order curvature corrections and a modulus scalar field (dilaton or compactification modulus). A…
We discuss general features of the $\beta$-function equations for spatially flat, $(d+1)$-dimensional cosmological backgrounds at lowest order in the string-loop expansion, but to all orders in $\alpha'$. In the special case of constant…
Recent work has proposed the principle of `asymptotic past triviality' to characterize the initial state in the pre-big bang scenario of string cosmology, that it is a generic perturbative solution of the low-energy effective action. Among…
We propose a mechanism to have a smooth transition from a pre-Big Bang phase to a standard cosmological phase. Such transition is driven by gravitational production of heavy massive string states that backreact on the geometry to stop the…
In this Letter, we describe how a spectrum of entropic perturbations generated during a period of slow contraction can source a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of curvature perturbations on length scales larger than the Hubble radius during…
Quantum gravity may remove classical space-time singularities and thus reveal what a universe at and before the big bang could be like. In loop quantum cosmology, an exactly solvable model is available which allows one to address precise…
The big bang singularity could be understood as a breakdown of Einstein's General Relativity at very high energies. Adopting this viewpoint, other theories, that implement Einstein Cosmology at high energies, might solve the problem of the…
The occurrence of singularities where spacetime curvature becomes infinite and geodesic evolution breaks down are inevitable events in classical general relativity (GR) unless one chooses an exotic matter violating weak energy condition.…
The generalized kinetic term of a dilaton gives the classical superinflation without recourse to any potential, and the quantum version of the dilaton gravity exhibits the finite curvature and graceful exit. For $p=2$ case, the model…
The ekpyrotic and cyclic universe scenarios have revived the idea that the density perturbations apparent in today's universe could have been generated in a `pre-singularity' epoch before the big bang. These scenarios provide explicit…
Quantum effects are expected to modify the cosmological dynamics of the early universe while maintaining some (potentially discrete) notion of space-time structure. In one approach, loop quantum cosmology, current models are shown here to…
The pre-big-bang cosmology inspired by superstring theories has been suggested as an alternative to slow-roll inflation. We analyze, in both the Jordan and Einstein frames, the effect of spatial curvature on this scenario and show that too…
The stability of cosmological solutions in the recently suggested specific mechanism of dynamical compensation of vacuum energy is studied. It is found that the solutions in the original version lead to cosmological singularity which could…
The Friedmann cosmological solution of the standard Einstein gravitational field equation has a curvature singularity at a moment in time known as the Big Bang. It has been suggested that this Big Bang curvature singularity can be…