Related papers: The problem of singularities and chaos in cosmolog…
The cosmological constant problem and brane universes are reviewed briefly. We discuss how the cosmological constant problem manifests itself in various scenarios for brane universes. We review attempts - and their difficulties - that aim…
The resolution of the problem of cosmological singularity in the framework of gauge theories of gravitation is discussed. Generalized cosmological Friedmann equations for homogeneous isotropic models filled by interacting scalar fields and…
We present here an overview of our basic understanding and recent developments on spacetime singularities in the Einstein theory of gravity. Several issues related to physical significance and implications of singularities are discussed.…
The scenario that the Universe contracts towards a big crunch and then undergoes a transition to expanding Universe in envisaged in the quantum string cosmology approach. The Wheeler-De Witt equation is solved exactly for an exponential…
We have critically compared different approaches to the cosmological constant problem, which is at the edge of elementary particle physics and cosmology. This problem is deeply connected with the difficulties formulating a theory of quantum…
This chapter provides a review of the frameworks developed for cosmological perturbation theory in loop quantum cosmology, and applications to various models of the early universe including inflation, ekpyrosis and the matter bounce, with…
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…
We present cosmic solutions corresponding to universes filled with dark and phantom energy, all having a negative cosmological constant. All such solutions contain infinite singularities, successively and equally distributed along time,…
The theory of cosmological perturbations has become a cornerstone of modern quantitative cosmology since it is the framework which provides the link between the models of the very early Universe such as the inflationary Universe scenario…
We review the general features of nonsingular universes ({\em i.e.} those that go from an era of accelerated collapse to an expanding era without displaying a singularity) as well as cyclic universes. We discuss the mechanisms behind the…
We quantize the solution to the Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz (BKL) scenario using the integral quantization method. Quantization smears the gravitational singularity avoiding its localization in the configuration space. The latter is…
We overview our recent studies of cosmological models with expansion and global rotation. Problems of the early rotating models are discussed, and the class of new viable cosmologies is described in detail. Particular attention is paid to…
The familiar Bang/Crunch singularities of classical cosmology have recently been augmented by new varieties: rips, sudden singularities, and so on. These tend to be associated with final states. Here we consider an alternative possibility…
I will briefly discuss three cosmological models built upon three distinct quantum gravity proposals. I will first highlight the cosmological role of a vector field in the framework of a string/brane cosmological model. I will then present…
Future singularities arising in a family of models for the expanding Universe, characterized by sharing a convenient parametrization of the energy budget in terms of the deceleration parameter, are classified. Finite-time future…
Singularities in any physical theory are either remarkable indicators of the unknown underlying fundamental theory, or indicate a change in the description of the physical reality. In General Relativity there are three fundamental kinds of…
Due to the accelerated expansion of the universe, the possibility of formation of singularities has changed from the classical Big Bang and Big Crunch singularities to include a number of new scenarios. In recent papers it has been shown…
We point out several subtleties arising in brane-world scenarios of cosmological constant cancellation. We show that solutions with curvature singularities are inconsistent, unless the contribution to the effective four-dimentional…
The dynamics of an inhomogeneous universe is studied with the methods of Loop Quantum Cosmology as an example of the quantization of vacuum cosmological spacetimes containing gravitational waves (Gowdy spacetimes). The analysis performed at…
We present a short introduction to a non-standard cosmological scenario motivated by the duality symmetries of string theory, in which the big bang singularity is replaced with a "big bounce" at high but finite curvature. The bouncing epoch…