Related papers: The Big Bang as the Ultimate Traffic Jam
Quantum gravity has matured over the last decade to a theory which can tell in a precise and explicit way how cosmological singularities of general relativity are removed. A branch of the universe "before" the classical big bang is obtained…
We present an overview of a recently suggested new model of quantum initial conditions for the Universe in the form of a cosmological density matrix. This density matrix originally suggested in the Euclidean quantum gravity framework turns…
We suggest a new explanation for the observed large scale flatness, homogeneity and isotropy of the universe. The basic ingredients are elementary and well-known, namely Einstein's theory of gravity and Hawking's method of computing…
The theoretical and observational consequences of thermodynamics of open systems, which allow particle creation are investigated in modified $f(R,T)$ ($R$ is the Ricci scalar and $T$ is the trace of energy-momentum tensor) theory of gravity…
The question of first-cause has troubled philosophers and cosmologists alike. Now that it is apparent that our universe began in a Big Bang explosion, the question of what happened before the Big Bang arises. Inflation seems like a very…
The origins of matter and radiation in the universe lie in a Hot Big Bang. We present a number of well-motivated cosmologies in which the Big Bang occurs through a strong first order phase transition -- either at the end of inflation, after…
We study a possible gravitational vacuum-effect, in which vacuum-energy variation is due to variation of gravitational field, vacuum state gains gravitational energy and releases it by spontaneous photon emissions. Based on the…
We present a rich class of exact solutions which contains radiation-dominated and matter-dominated models for the early and late universe. They include a variable cosmological ``constant'' which is derived from a higher dimension and…
Robertson-Walker spacetimes within a large class are geometrically extended to larger cosmologies that include spacetime points with zero and negative cosmological times. In the extended cosmologies, the big bang is lightlike, and though…
The Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble theory of gravity naturally extends general relativity to account for the intrinsic spin of matter. Spacetime torsion, generated by spin of Dirac fields, induces gravitational repulsion in fermionic matter…
We describe how cosmology has converged towards a beautiful model of the Universe: the Big Bang Universe. We praise this model, but show there is a dark side to it. This dark side is usually called ``the cosmological problems'': a set of…
We find a class of solutions for a homogeneous and isotropic universe in which the initially expanding universe stops expanding, experiences contraction, and then expands again (the "bounce"), in the framework of Einstein gravity with a…
The beautiful scenario of pre-big-bang cosmology is appealling not only because it is more or less derived from string theory, but also because it separates clearly the problem of the initial conditions for the universe from that of high…
The null-brane space-time provides a simple model of a big crunch/big bang singularity. A non-perturbative definition of M-theory on this space-time was recently provided using matrix theory. We derive the fermion couplings for this matrix…
We discuss Einstein gravity for a fluid consisting of particles interacting with an unidentified environment of some other particles whose dissipative effect is approximated by a diffusion. The environment is described by a time dependent…
I suggest the existence of a still undiscovered interaction: repulsion between matter and antimatter. The simplest and the most elegant candidate for such a force is gravitational repulsion between particles and antiparticles. I argue that…
Recently Verlinde proposed that gravity can be described as an emergent phenomena arising from changes in the information associated with the positions of material bodies. By using noncommutative geometry as a way to describe the…
We show that there exist modified theories of gravity in which the metric satisfies second-order equations and in which the Big Bang singularity is replaced by a cosmic bounce without violating any energy condition. In fact, the bounce is…
We investigate the properties of a cosmological scenario which undergoes a gravitational phase transition at late times. In this scenario, the Universe evolves according to general relativity in the standard, hot Big Bang picture until a…
The continuity equation requires that energy released in nuclear fusion flows away from the point of interaction and is not immediately thermalised into the CMB. It is seen that consequently the bulk of thermo-nuclear energy released in BBN…