Related papers: Light-like Big Bang singularities in string and ma…
The standard Big Bang cosmology predicts the existence of an, as yet undetected, relic neutrino background, similar to the photons observed in the cosmic microwave background. If neutrinos have mass, then such relic neutrinos are a natural…
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
Cosmic strings, a hot subject in the 1980's and early 1990's, lost its appeal when it was found that it leads to inconsistencies in the power spectrum of the measured cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies. However,…
Brane-world singularities are analysed, emphasizing the case of supergravity in singular spaces where the singularity puzzle is naturally resolved. These naked singularities are either time-like or null, corresponding to the finite or…
We study field theories in the limit that a compactified dimension becomes lightlike. In almost all cases the amplitudes at each order of perturbation theory diverge in the limit, due to strong interactions among the longitudinal zero…
The hot big-bang cosmology provides a reliable accounting of the Universe from about $10^{-2}\sec$ after the bang until the present, as well as a robust framework for speculating back to times as early as $10^{-43}\sec$. Cosmology faces a…
A sort of gravitational waveguide effect in cosmology could explain some anomalous phenomena which cannot be understood by the current gravitational lensing models as the existence of "twins" objects with similar spectra and redshifts posed…
The Pre-Big Bang cosmology inspired generations of cosmologists in attempts to cure the initial Big Bang singularity using a fundamental length scale as proposed by String Theory. The existence of a phase of collapse/inflation with…
A popular science article designed to introduce people familiar with basic cosmological nomenclature with models alternative to cosmological inflation. The paper briefly discusses the modern view of the Big Bang model, inflation (both its…
I report recent studies on the evolution of perturbations in the context of the ``pre-big-bang" scenario typical of string cosmology, with emphasis on the formation of a stochastic background of relic photons and gravitons, and its possible…
The Universe on large scales is well described by the Lambda-CDM cosmological model. There however remain some heavy clouds on our global understanding, especially on galaxy scales, which we review here. While some of these clouds might…
This paper proposes a new avenue for understanding the cosmological singularity. The standard cosmological model contains a generic initial singularity usually referred to as the {\em big bang}. Herein, we present a novel idea to extend the…
We calculate the density and gravitational wave spectrums generated in a version of string cosmology termed pre-big bang scenario. The large scale structures are originated from quantum fluctuations of the metric and dilaton field during a…
I review various aspects of the pre-big-bang scenario and of its main open problems, with emphasis on the role played by the dilaton. Since the dilaton is a compelling consequence of string theory, tests of this scenario are direct tests of…
We review the existence, formation and properties of cosmic strings in string theory, the wide variety of observational techniques that are being employed to detect them, and the constraints that current observations impose on string theory…
We show that big bang cosmology implies a high degree of entanglement of particles in the universe. In fact, a typical particle is entangled with many particles far outside our horizon. However, the entanglement is spread nearly uniformly…
Cosmic strings are predicted in many models beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. In models which admit strings, a network of strings will inevitably be formed in a phase transition in the early universe and will persist to the…
The string-dominated universe locally resembles an open universe, and fits dynamical measures of power spectra, cluster abundances, redshift distortions, lensing constraints, luminosity and angular diameter distance relations and microwave…
Singularities in General Relativity are regions where the description of spacetime in terms of a pseudo-Riemannian geometry breaks down. The theory seems unable to predict the evolution of the physical degrees of freedom around and beyond…
We review a few off-the-beaten-track ideas in cosmology. They solve a variety of fundamental problems; also they are fun. We start with a description of non-singular dilaton cosmology. In these scenarios gravity is modified so that the…