Related papers: Cosmological Density Fluctuations in Stochastic Gr…
Scalar-tensor theories of gravity that embrace conformal coupling to the scalar curvature are the focal point of cosmology on discussions of inflation and late-time accelerating universe. Although there exists a stringent nucleo-synthesis…
We study the dynamics of gauge-invariant scalar perturbations in cosmological scenarios with a modified Friedmann equation, such as quantum gravity bouncing cosmologies. We work within a separate universe approximation which captures…
We present an approach to cosmological perturbations based on a covariant perturbative expansion between two worldlines in the real inhomogeneous universe. As an application, at an arbitrary order we define an exact scalar quantity which…
We consider the presence and evolution of primordial density perturbations in a cosmological model based on a simple ansatz which captures -- by providing a set of effective gravitational field equations -- the strength of the enhanced…
We consider the mixed inflaton-curvaton scenario in which quantum fluctuations of the curvaton field during inflation lead to a relatively large curvature perturbation spectrum at small scales. We use the model of chaotic inflation with…
We compute the primordial scalar, vector and tensor metric perturbations arising from quantum field inflation. Quantum field inflation takes into account the nonperturbative quantum dynamics of the inflaton consistently coupled to the…
We clarify the way in which cosmological perturbations of quantum origin, produced during inflation, assume classical properties. Two features play an important role in this process: First, the dynamics of fluctuations which are presently…
We study fluctuations and correlations between spacial regions, generated by the primordial quantum gravitational phase of the universe. We do so by a numerical evaluation of Lorentzian amplitudes in Loop Quantum Gravity, in a…
Evolution of primordial fluctuations in a Brans-Dicke type scalar-tensor gravity theory is comprehensively investigated. The harmonic attractor model, in which the scalar field has its harmonic effective potential in the Einstein conformal…
We investigate the modified gravity theories in terms of the effective dark energy models. We compare the cosmic expansion history and the linear growth in different models. We also study the evolution of linear cosmological perturbations…
We consider the possibility that the primordial curvature perturbation was generated through the curvaton mechanism from a scalar field with an electric charge, or precisely the Standard Model U(1) weak hypercharge. This links the dynamics…
We investigate the evolution of primordial cosmological perturbations in a vacuum decay model where de Sitter space transitions to radiation domination through quantum-thermal decay processes. Unlike standard inflation, this framework…
We study linear cosmological perturbations in a previously introduced family of deformations of general relativity characterized by the absence of new degrees of freedom. The homogeneous and isotropic background in this class of theories is…
We point out that in the context of ``two-metric'' theories of gravity there is the possibility that cosmic defects will produce a spectrum of primordial adiabatic density perturbations. This will happen when the speed characterising the…
We present a first analysis of a nonperturbative approach to quantum gravity based on a representation of quantum field theory in terms of stochastic processes. The stochastic description accommodates a physical Lorentz-invariant…
A special class of conformal gravity theories is proposed to solve the long standing problem of the fine-tuned cosmological constant. In the proposed model time evolution of the inflaton field leaves behind a nearly vanishing, but finite…
The theory of cosmological perturbations is the main tool which connects theories of the early universe (based on new fundamental physics such as string theory) with cosmological observations. In these lectures, I will provide an…
Quantum gravitational effects in loop quantum cosmology lead to a resolution of the initial singularity and have the potential to solve the horizon problem and generate a quasi scale-invariant spectrum of density fluctuations. We consider…
We derive general analytic formulae for the power spectrum and spectral index of the curvature perturbation produced during inflation driven by a multi-component inflaton field, up to the second order in the slow-roll approximation. We do…
Primordial non-Gaussianity signatures of extremely heavy particles are re-examined within a simple alternative to the standard inflationary paradigm, in which the primordial fluctuations and the inflationary spacetime expansion are sourced…