Related papers: Observational signatures of a non-singular bouncin…
We review the status of bouncing cosmologies as alternatives to cosmological inflation for providing a description of the very early universe, and a source for the cosmological perturbations which are observed today. We focus on the…
The perturbations in the early universe are generated as a result of the interplay between quantum field theory and gravitation. Since these primordial perturbations lead to the anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and eventually…
The standard model of cosmology assumes a homogeneous and isotropic universe that undergoes a period of exponential expansion very early on, named inflation. This stretches quantum fluctuations from the onset of inflation to cosmological…
In this work, we revisit the dynamics of pre-inflationary universe with a family of $\alpha-$attractor potentials, in the framework of loop quantum cosmology, in which the big bang singularity is generically resolved purely with quantum…
If the spatial sections of the Universe are positively curved, extrapolating the inflationary stage backward in time inevitably leads to a classical bounce. This simple scenario, non-singular and free of exotic physics, deserves to be…
We examine the full nonlinear dynamics of closed FRW universes in the framework of D-branes formalism. Friedmann equations contain additional terms arising from the bulk-brane interaction that provide a concrete model for nonsingular…
I review two cosmological paradigms which are alternative to the current inflationary scenario. The first alternative is the "matter bounce", a non-singular bouncing cosmology with a matter-dominated phase of contraction. The second is an…
We explore a dual scenario of generalized inflation and bounce cosmologies, producing a scale-invariant curvature perturbation spectrum. Bayesian analysis with pulsar timing array data identifies, for the first time, viable regions from…
The early stages of the universe evolution are discussed according to the hot big bang model and the grand unified theories. The shortcomings of big bang are summarized and their resolution by inflationary cosmology is sketched.…
By quantising the background as well as the perturbations in a simple one fluid model, we show that there exists an ambiguity in the choice of relevant variables, potentially leading to incompatible observational physical predictions. In a…
In the context of Quantum Cosmology and the Wheeler-DeWitt equation we investigate the possible effects of a non semiclassical wave-function of the universe on the evolution of the inflationary perturbations. These are associated with the…
This thesis is centered on three main subjects within the theory of inflation and cosmological perturbations: loop corrections to the power spectrum of curvature fluctuations generated during inflation; evolution of cosmological…
The inflationary scenario has become the paradigm of early universe cosmology, and - in conjuction with ideas from superstring theory - has led to speculations about an "inflationary multiverse". From a point of view of phenomenology, the…
We propose a new cosmological paradigm in which our observed expanding phase is originated from an initially large contracting Universe that subsequently experienced a bounce. This category of models, being geodesically complete, is…
In the standard inflationary paradigm, cosmological density perturbations are generated as quantum fluctuations in the early Universe, but then undergo a quantum-to-classical transition. A key role in this transition is played by squeezing…
In string theory, the traditional picture of a Universe that emerges from the inflation of a very small and highly curved space-time patch is a possibility, not a necessity: quite different initial conditions are possible, and not…
The cosmological dynamics in the early universe are investigated to explore the possibility of the sign reversal of the Hubble parameter as a key feature of non-singular bouncing cosmological solutions in higher-order torsion gravity. The…
Inflationary and bouncing scenarios are two frameworks that provide the mechanism to overcome the horizon problem as well as generate the primordial perturbations. In this work, we investigate the conservation of perturbations in…
Cosmological inflation remains to be a unique mechanism of generation of plausible initial conditions in the early universe. In particular, it generates the primordial quasiclassical perturbations with power spectrum determined by the…
We present a detailed study of a simple scalar field model that yields non-singular cosmological solutions. We study both the qualitative dynamics of the homogeneous and isotropic background and the evolution of inhomogeneous linear…