Related papers: The Quantum Origin of Cosmic Structure
Cosmology now has a standard model - a remarkably simple description of the universe, its contents and its history. A symposium held last September in Cambridge, UK, gave this model a 'health check' and discussed fascinating questions that…
Questions such as whether we live in a spatially finite universe, and what its shape and size may be, are among the fundamental open problems that high precision modern cosmology needs to resolve. These questions go beyond the scope of…
Shortly the vacuum component of the Universe from the geometry point of view and from the point of view of the standard model of physics of elementary particles is discussed. Some arguments are given to the calculated value of the…
It is well-known that in unimodular gravity the cosmological constant is not sourced by a constant energy density, but rather appears as some sort of integration constant. In this work we try to flesh this out by studying in some detail a…
A unified theory of four-dimensional gravity together with the standard model is presented, with supersymmetry breaking of M-theory at a TeV. Masses of the the known particles are derived. The cosmological constant is quantum generated to…
A brief review of the modern state of quantum cosmology is presented as a theory of quantum initial conditions for inflationary scenario. The no-boundary and tunneling states of the Universe are discussed as a possible source of probability…
In this work we review briefly the origin and history of the cosmological constant and its recent reincarnation in the form of the dark energy component of the universe. We also comment on the fundamental problems associated to its…
Topology is key in describing unconventional quantum phases of matter and devising robust quantum technology. Exactly how topology mixes with quantum mechanics remains largely unclear, as testified by the lack of a unifying microscopic…
The current understanding of structure formation in the early universe is mainly built on a magnification of quantum fluctuations in an initial vacuum state during an early phase of accelerated universe expansion. One usually describes this…
The state of our understanding of cosmology is reviewed from an astrophysical cosmologist point of view with a particular emphasis given to recent observations and their impact. Discussion is then presented on the implications for particle…
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…
Many particle physics models of matter admit solutions corresponding to stable or long-lived topological defects. In the context of standard cosmology it is then unavoidable that such defects will form during phase transitions in the very…
Models of structure formation in the universe postulate that matter distributions observed today in galaxy catalogs arise, through a complex non-linear dynamics, by gravitational evolution from a very uniform initial state. Dark matter…
Loop quantum cosmology is an application of recent developments for a non-perturbative and background independent quantization of gravity to a cosmological setting. Characteristic properties of the quantization such as discreteness of…
An overview of the cosmological models with expansion, shear and rotation is presented. Problems of the rotating models are discussed, their general kinematic properties and dynamical realizations are described. A particular attention is…
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…
I give a compact, pedagogical review of our present understanding of the universe as based on general relativity. This includes the uniform models, with special reference to the cosmological 'constant'; and the equations for…
Measurements of CMB anisotropy and, more recently, polarization have played a very important role in cosmology. Besides precise determination of various parameters of the `standard' cosmological model, observations have also established…
We give a concise, self-contained introduction to perturbation theory in cosmology at linear and second order, striking a balance between mathematical rigour and usability. In particular we discuss gauge issues and the active and passive…
We review the observational foundations of the $\Lambda$CDM model, considered by most cosmologists as the standard model of cosmology. The Cosmological Principle, a key assumption of the model is shown to be verified with increasing…