Related papers: Daemon Decay and Inflation
The Wheeler-DeWitt equation in the minisuperspace approximation is studied in four different models. Under certain circumstances each model leads to a tunneling potential and under the same circumstances the classical version of each model…
We show that the QCD axion can drive inflation via a series of tunneling events. For axion models with a softly broken $Z_N$ symmetry, the axion potential has a series of $N$ local minima and may be modeled by a tilted cosine. Chain…
We investigate the quantum cosmological tunneling scenario for inflationary models. Within a path-integral approach, we derive the corresponding tunneling probability distribution. A sharp peak in this distribution can be interpreted as the…
In this review I consider several different issues related to inflation. I will begin with the wave function of the Universe. This issue is pretty old, but recently there were some new insights based on the theory of the self-reproducing…
We propose a method to extract predictions from quantum cosmology for inflation that can be confronted with observations. Employing the tunneling boundary condition in quantum geometrodynamics, we derive a probability distribution for the…
Phantom Cosmology provides an unique opportunity to "connect" the phantom driven (low en- ergy meV scale) dark energy phase to the (high energy GUT scale) inflationary era. This is possible because the energy density increases in phantom…
We extend to multidimensional cosmology Vilenkin's prescription of tunnelling from nothing for the quantum origin of the observable Universe. Our model consists of a $D+4$-dimensional spacetime of topology ${\cal R}\times {\cal S}^3…
In Chain Inflation the universe tunnels along a series of false vacua of ever-decreasing energy. The main goal of this paper is to embed Chain Inflation in high energy fundamental physics. We begin by illustrating a simple effective…
We present a model of inflation where the inflaton is accommodated as a phantom field which exhibits an initial transient pole behavior and then decays into a quintessence field which is responsible for a radiation era. We must stress that…
It is commonly believed that our Universe has experienced two different stages of accelerated expansion. The early stage is known as inflation and the current acceleration is driven by dark energy. Observing inflation and dark energy…
A viable model for inflation driven by a torsion function in a Friedmann background is presented. The scalar spectral index in the interval $0.92\lesssim n_{s}\lesssim 0.97$ is obtained in order to satisfy the initial conditions for…
Inflation with tunneling from a false to a true vacuum becomes viable in the presence of a scalar field that slows down the initial de Sitter phase. As a by-product this field also sets dynamically the value of the Newton constant observed…
We study the cosmological inflation and reheating in a teleparallel model of gravity. Reheating is assumed to be due to the decay of a scalar field to radiation during its rapid oscillation. By using cosmological perturbations during…
Reheating is an important part of inflationary cosmology. It describes the production of Standard Matter particles after the phase of accelerated expansion. We give a review of the reheating process, focusing on an in-depth discussion of…
This contribution consists of two parts. In the first part, I review the tunneling approach to quantum cosmology and comment on the alternative approaches. In the second part, I discuss the relation between quantum cosmology and eternal…
The early universe according to the big bang and the grand unified theories is discussed. The shortcomings of big bang are summarized together with their resolution by inflationary cosmology. Inflation, the subsequent oscillation and decay…
Quantum geometry predicts that a universe evolves through an inflationary phase at small volume before exiting gracefully into a standard Friedmann phase. This does not require the introduction of additional matter fields with ad hoc…
A radiative seesaw model with an inert doublet dark matter is a promising candidate which could explain the existence of neutrino masses, dark matter and baryon number asymmetry of the Universe, simultaneously. In addition to these issues,…
These lecture notes provide an introduction to cosmic inflation. In particular I will review the basic concepts of inflation, generation of density perturbations, and reheating after inflation.
Loop quantum cosmology of the closed isotropic model is studied with a special emphasis on a comparison with traditional results obtained in the Wheeler-DeWitt approach. This includes the relation of the dynamical initial conditions with…