Related papers: Towards a Cosmological Dual to Inflation
In this paper, we use a known duality between expanding and contracting cosmologies to construct a dual of the inflationary flow hierarchy applicable to contracting cosmologies such as Ekpyrotic and Cyclic models. We show that the…
New Ekpyrotic Cosmology is an alternative scenario of the early universe which relies on a phase of slow contraction before the big bang. We calculate the 3-point and 4-point correlation functions of primordial density perturbations and…
We show that curvature perturbations acquire a scale invariant spectrum for any constant equation of state, provided the fluid has a suitably time-dependent sound speed. In order for modes to exit the physical horizon, and in order to solve…
For a single scalar field with unit sound speed minimally coupled to Einstein gravity, there are exactly three distinct cosmological solutions which produce a scale invariant spectrum of curvature perturbations in a dynamical attractor…
Recently, we introduced an ekpyrotic model based on a single, canonical scalar field that generates nearly scale invariant curvature fluctuations through a purely "adiabatic mechanism" in which the background evolution is a dynamical…
The universe can be made flat and smooth by undergoing a phase of ultra-slow (ekpyrotic) contraction, a condition achievable with a single, canonical scalar field and conventional general relativity. It has been argued, though, that…
We develop a cosmological model where primordial inflation is driven by a 'solid', defined as a system of three derivatively coupled scalar fields obeying certain symmetries and spontaneously breaking a certain subgroup of these. The…
In the framework of scalar-tensor theories of gravity, we construct a new kind of cosmological model that conflates inflation and ekpyrosis. During a phase of conflation, the universe undergoes accelerated expansion, but with crucial…
We generalize the cosmological duality between inflation and cyclic contraction under the interchange $a \leftrightarrow H$ to the case of non-canonical scalar field theories with varying speed of sound. The single duality in the canonical…
There is increasing evidence from string theory that effective field theories are only reliable over approximately sub-Planckian field excursions. The two most promising effective models for early universe cosmology, inflation and…
We consider non-singular bouncing cosmologies, such as the new ekpyrotic model, in which the universe undergoes a slow contraction phase with equation of state $w \gg 1$, followed by a bounce that occurs at a finite scale factor when…
The shift-symmetric coupling of a pseudo-scalar particle driving inflation to gauge fields provides a unique way of probing cosmic inflation. We show for an SU(2) gauge group how a classical isotropic background gauge field develops from…
We study adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations produced during a period of cosmological inflation. We compute the power spectra and cross spectra of the curvature and isocurvature modes, as well as the tensor perturbation spectrum in…
We study adiabatic and isocurvature perturbation spectra produced by a period of cosmological inflation driven by two scalar fields. We show that there exists a model-independent consistency condition for all two-field models of slow-roll…
Ekpyrotic bouncing cosmologies have been proposed as alternatives to inflation. In these scenarios, the universe is smoothed and flattened during a period of slow contraction preceding the bounce while quantum fluctuations generate nearly…
We present a nonsingular bouncing cosmology using single scalar field matter with non-trivial potential and non-standard kinetic term. The potential sources a dynamical attractor solution with Ekpyrotic contraction which washes out small…
We explore inflationary cosmology in a theory where there are two scalar fields which non-minimally couple to the Ricci scalar and an additional $R^2$ term, which breaks the conformal invariance. Particularly, we investigate the slow-roll…
A model of cosmological inflation is proposed in which field space is a hyperbolic plane. The inflaton never slow-rolls, and instead orbits the bottom of the potential, buoyed by a centrifugal force. Though initial velocities redshift away…
We study two-field bouncing cosmologies in which primordial perturbations are created in either an ekpyrotic or a matter-dominated contraction phase. We use a non-singular ghost condensate bounce model to follow the perturbations through…
We consider a cosmological scenario in which a scale-invariant spectrum of curvature perturbations is generated by a rapidly-evolving equation of state on a slowly expanding background. This scenario generalizes the "adiabatic ekpyrotic"…