Related papers: A Stringy Mechanism for A Small Cosmological Const…
We consider the spacetime dynamics of a gas of closed strings in the context of General Relativity in a background of arbitrary spatial dimensions. Our motivation is primarily late time String Gas Cosmology, where such a spacetime picture…
We extend General Relativity by promoting Planck scale and the cosmological constant into integration constants, interpreted as fluxes of $4$-forms hiding in the theory. When we include the charges of the $4$-forms, these `constants' can…
We study moduli stabilization in the context of M-theory on compact manifolds with G2 holonomy, using superpotentials from flux and membrane instantons, and recent results for the Khaeler potential of such models. The existence of minima…
Warped compactifications with significant warping provide one of the few known mechanisms for naturally generating large hierarchies of physical scales. We demonstrate that this mechanism is realizable in string theory, and give examples…
We obtain the joint distribution of the gravitino mass and the cosmological constant in KKLT and LVS models with anti-D3 brane uplifting described via the nilpotent goldstino formalism. Moduli stabilisation (of both complex structure and…
A generic lesson of string theory is that the coupling constants of an effective low energy theory are determined by the vacuum values of a set of fields - the so-called moduli - some of which are stabilized at relatively low masses by…
We present a critical review and summary of String Gas Cosmology. We include a pedagogical derivation of the effective action starting from string theory, emphasizing the necessary approximations that must be invoked. Working in the…
We exhibit a mechanism which dynamically adjusts cosmological constant toward $0^+$. The adjustment is quantum-mechanical, discharging cosmological constant in random discrete steps. It renders de Sitter space unstable, and triggers its…
We study the vacuum statistics of ensembles of M theory compactifications on G_2 holonomy manifolds with fluxes, and of ensembles of Freund-Rubin vacua. We discuss similarities and differences between these and Type IIB flux landscapes. For…
Based on a thoeretical model in which scalar fields play crucial roles, we propose a mechanism to better understand a cosmological constant expected to be small (nearly comparable with the critical density) but nonzero as suggested strongly…
Exact solutions of the Einstein field equations with cosmic string and space varying cosmological constant, viz., $\Lambda= \Lambda(r)$, in the energy-momentum tensors are presented. Three cases have been studied: where variable…
We review the main results of our investigations motivated by the tadpole potentials of ten-dimensional strings with broken supersymmetry. While these are at best partial indications, it is hard to resist the feeling that they do capture…
We search for phenomenologically viable vacua of IIB string flux compactifications on Calabi-Yau orientifolds with a single Kaehler modulus. We perform both analytic studies and numerical searches in order to find models with de Sitter…
We demonstrate a unified resolution to the strong CP, hierarchy, and cosmological constant problems in type IIA flux compactifications, via 4-form fluxes and KL stabilization. We show that the strong CP problem can be effectively "solved"…
We investigate the peculiar velocity field due to long cosmic strings in several cosmological models and analyse the influence of a nonscaling behaviour of the string network, which is expected in open cosmological models or models with a…
We attempt a systematic analysis of string-theoretic quintessence models as an alternative to metastable de Sitter vacua. It appears that, within the boundaries of what is known, large-volume type-IIB flux compactifications are preferred.…
We use the present observed number density of large X-ray clusters to constrain the amplitude of matter density perturbations induced by cosmic strings on the scale of $8 h^{-1}$Mpc ($\sigma_8$), in both open cosmologies and flat models…
We study the cosmology induced on a brane probing a warped throat region in a Calabi-Yau compactification of type IIB string theory. For the case of a BPS D3-brane probing the Klebanov-Strassler warped deformed conifold, the cosmology…
Attempts to connect string theory with astrophysical observation are hampered by a jargon barrier, where an intimidating profusion of orientifolds, Kahler potentials, etc. dissuades cosmologists from attempting to work out the astrophysical…
We consider the statistical properties of vacua and inflationary trajectories associated with a random multifield potential. Our underlying motivation is the string landscape, but our calculations apply to general potentials. Using random…