Related papers: When Worlds Collide
Banks has proposed a relation between the scale of supersymmetry breaking and the cosmological constant in de Sitter space. His proposal has a natural extension to a general FRW cosmology, in which the supersymmetry breaking scale is…
An unresolved question in inflationary cosmology is the assignment of probabilities to different types of events that can occur in the eternally inflating multiverse. We explore the possibility that the resolution of this "measure problem"…
The gravitational field equations on cosmological scales are obtained by averaging the Einstein field equations of general relativity. By assuming spatial homogeneity and isotropy on the largest scales, the local inhomogeneities affect the…
In this thesis the cosmological constant is investigated from two points of view. First, we study the influence of a time-dependent cosmological constant on the late-time expansion of the universe. Thereby, we consider several combinations…
We study a cosmological scenario in which inflation is preceded by a bounce. In this scenario, the primordial singularity, one of the major shortcomings of inflation, is replaced by a non-singular bounce, prior to which the universe…
We examine the possibility that a significant component of the energy density of the universe has an equation-of-state different from that of matter, radiation or cosmological constant ($\Lambda$). An example is a cosmic scalar field…
Recent observations of Type 1a supernovae indicating an accelerating universe have once more drawn attention to the possible existence, at the present epoch, of a small positive Lambda-term (cosmological constant). In this paper we review…
We consider the coupled Einstein-Maxwell-Boltzmann system with cosmological constant in presence of a massive scalar field. The background metric is that of Friedman-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker space time in the spatially homogeneous case…
Astronomical observations are suggesting that the fine structure constant varies cosmologically. We present an analysis on the consequences that these variations might induce on the electromagnetic field as a whole. We show that under these…
From an observational perspective cosmology is today in excellent shape - advances in instrumentation and data processing have enabled us to study the universe in detail back to when the first galaxies formed, map the fluctuations in the…
In the standard cosmological framework, the Hubble diagram is interpreted by assuming that the light emitted by standard candles propagates in a spatially homogeneous and isotropic spacetime. However, the light from "point sources"--such as…
An analogy is developed between the bubble universe model and the Young-Laplace equation obtaining an analogic equation and commenting some numerical results produced by its application. The results, even if based on a simple analogy,…
We consider the model of a false vacuum bubble with a thin wall where the surface energy density is composed of two different components, "domain-wall" type and "dust" type, with opposite signs. We find stably oscillating solutions, which…
We present a new solution to the cosmological constant (CC) and coincidence problems in which the observed value of the CC, $\Lambda$, is linked to other observable properties of the universe. This is achieved by promoting the CC from a…
The geodesics followed by cosmic microwave background (CMB) photons show different behaviours depending on the geometry of space. Namely, the effect of `mixing geodesics' predicts a distinct signature in CMB maps: threshold-independent…
Testing the so-called consistency relations plays an important role for distinguishing the different classes of inflation models. In this paper, we investigate the possible testing based on the potential observations of the cosmic microwave…
The standard Friedmann model of cosmology is based on the Copernican Principle, i.e. the assumption of a homogeneous background on which structure forms via perturbations. Homogeneity underpins both general relativistic and modified gravity…
In this paper the coupling between dark energy and the other components of the cosmological fluid has been studied. Firstly, it will be shown that the application of general cosmological equations, deduced by the authors in a previous work,…
The standard model of cosmology is investigated using time dependent cosmological constant $\Lambda$ and Newton's gravitational constant $G$. The total energy content is described by the modified Chaplygin gas equation of state. It is found…
Some of the peculiar electrodynamical effects associated with gauged ``dimension bubbles'' are presented. Such bubbles, which effectively enclose a region of 5d spacetime, can arise from a 5d theory with a compact extra dimension. Bubbles…