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Studies of the initial conditions for inflation have conflicting predictions from exponential suppression to inevitability. At the level of phase space, this conflict arises from the competing intuitions of CPT invariance and…
Previously defined covariant and gauge-invariant perturbation variables, representing, e.g., the fractional spatial energy density gradient on hypersurfaces of constant expansion, are used to simplify the linear perturbation analysis of a…
A continuous process of creation of particles is investigated as a possible connection between the inflationary stage with late cosmic acceleration. In this model, the inflationary era occurs due to a continuous and fast process of creation…
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…
An introductory account is given of the modern understanding of the physics of the early Universe. Particular emphasis is placed on the paradigm of cosmological inflation, which postulates a period of accelerated expansion during the…
We compute in detail how deviations from Einstein gravity at the inflation energy scale could appear as non-Gaussian features in the sky. To illustrate this we use multi-field $\alpha-$attractor models in the framework of supergravity to…
We have investigated inflationary model constructed from minimally modified gravity (MMG) theories. The MMG theory in the form of $f({\bf H}) \propto {\bf H}^{1+p}$ gravity where, ${\bf H}$ is the Hamiltonian constraint in the Einstein…
In this work we study certain classes of $F(R,{\cal G})$ gravity which have appealing phenomenological features, with respect to the successful realization of the dark energy and of the inflationary era. Particularly, we discuss the general…
Using a long wavelength iteration scheme to solve Einstein's equations near the Big-Bang singularity of a universe driven by a massive scalar field, we find how big initial quasi-isotropic inhomogeneities can be before they can prevent…
A first order inflation model where a gauge coupling constant runs as the universe inflates is investigated. This model can solve the graceful-exit problem within Einstein gravity by varying the bubble formation rate. The sufficient…
The isotropy and homogeneity of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) favors "scalar driven" early Universe inflationary models. Non-scalar fields, and in particular gauge fields, are on the other hand commonplace in all high energy…
Within the framework of RG improved inflationary cosmology motivated by asymptotically safe gravity, we study the dynamics of a scalar field which can be interpreted as the Higgs field. The background trajectories of this model can provide…
We study inflation and late-time acceleration in the expansion of the universe in non-minimal electromagnetism, in which the electromagnetic field couples to the scalar curvature function. It is shown that power-law inflation can be…
We study a cosmological scenario in which the DBI action governing the motion of a D3-brane in a higher-dimensional spacetime is supplemented with an induced gravity term. The latter reduces to the quartic Galileon Lagrangian when the…
Currently there is no definitive description for the accelerated expansion of the Universe at both early and late times; we know these two periods as the epochs of inflation and dark energy. Contained within this Thesis are two studies of…
It has been pointed out that a large non-minimal coupling $\xi$ between the Higgs and the Ricci scalar can source higher derivative operators, which may change the predictions of Higgs inflation. A variant, called critical Higgs inflation,…
We examine inflationary universe models driven by scalar fields with logarithmic potentials of the form $V(\phi) = V_0 \phi^p(\ln \phi)^q$. Combining the slow-roll approximation with asymptotic techniques, we identify regions of the…
We revisit inflation in induced gravity. Our focus is on models where the low scale Planck mass is completely determined by the breaking of the scaling symmetry in the field theory sector. The Higgs-like field which breaks the symmetry with…
Oscillons are massive, long-lived, localized excitations of a scalar field. We show that in a large class of well-motivated single-field models, inflation is followed by self-resonance, leading to copious oscillon generation and a lengthy…
We formulate new conformal models of inflation and dark energy which generalise the Higgs-Dilaton scenario. We embed these models in unimodular gravity whose effect is to break scale invariance in the late time Universe. In the early…