Related papers: Dimensional reduction in the sky
If the beginning of inflation is defined at the moment when the vacuum energy of the inflaton starts to dominate, the energy density of the other fields at that moment is (by definition) comparable to the inflaton. Although the fraction…
Recent results suggest that a crucial crossroad for quantum gravity is the characterization of the effective dimension of spacetime at short distances, where quantum properties of spacetime become significant. This is relevant in particular…
We show that the dimension of spacetime becomes complex-valued when its short-scale geometry is invariant under a discrete scaling symmetry. This characteristic can generically arise in quantum gravities, for instance, in those based on…
Numerical computations have suggested that in causal dynamical triangulation models of quantum gravity the effective dimension of spacetime in the UV is lower than in the IR. In this paper we develop a simple model based on previous work on…
We extend the definition of "spectral dimension" (usually defined for fractal and lattice geometries) to theories on smooth spacetimes with anisotropic scaling. We show that in quantum gravity dominated by a Lifshitz point with dynamical…
We consider the running of the spectral index as a probe of both inflation itself, and of the overall evolution of the very early universe. Surveying a collection of simple single field inflationary models, we confirm that the magnitude of…
We apply the property of selfsimilarity that corresponds to the concept of a fractal universe, to the dimension of time. It follows that any interval of time, given by any tick of any clock, is proportional to the age of the universe. The…
We study the dynamics and predictions of a new emergent-universe model recently derived within Quantum Reduced Loop Gravity and based on the so-called statistical regularization scheme. These effective geometries show a dynamical transition…
Scaling arguments are used to constrain the angular spectrum of distortions on boundaries of macroscopic causal diamonds, produced by Planck-scale vacuum fluctuations of causally-coherent quantum gravity. The small-angle spectrum of…
We discuss predictions for cosmology which result from the scaling solution of functional flow equations for a quantum field theory of gravity. A scaling solution is necessary to render quantum gravity renormalizable. Our scaling solution…
Changing the dimensionality of the space-time at the smallest and largest distances has manifold theoretical advantages. If the space is lower dimensional in the high energy regime, then there are no ultraviolet divergencies in field…
The braneworld cosmology, in which our universe is imbedded as a hypersurface in a higher dimensional bulk, has the peculiar property that the inflationary consistency relation derived in a four-dimensional cosmology persists. This…
We analyse how simple local constraints in two dimensions lead a defect to exhibit robust, non-transient, and tunable, subdiffusion. We uncover a rich dynamical phenomenology realised in ice- and dimer-type models. On the microscopic scale…
In cosmological perturbation theory it is convenient to use the scalar, vector, tensor (SVT) basis as defined according to how these components transform under 3-dimensional rotations. In attempting to solve the fluctuation equations that…
We study the influence of the fluctuations of a Lorentz invariant and conserved vacuum on cosmological metric perturbations, and show that they generically blow up in the IR. We compute this effect using the K\"all\'en-Lehmann spectral…
We study the evolution of quantum fluctuations of a scalar field which is coupled to the geometry, in an exponentially expanding universe. We derive an expression for the spectrum of intrinsic perturbations, and it is shown that the…
We present a novel theory of the very early universe which addresses the traditional horizon and flatness problems of big bang cosmology and predicts a scale invariant spectrum of perturbations. Unlike inflation, this scenario requires no…
Within the functional renormalization group approach to Background Independent quantum gravity, we explore the scale dependent effective geometry of the de Sitter solution dS${}_4$. The investigation employs a novel approach whose essential…
It has recently been shown that a Hagedorn phase of string gas cosmology can provide a causal mechanism for generating a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of scalar metric fluctuations, without the need for an intervening period of de Sitter…
We explore the observational implications of models of intermediate inflation driven by modified dispersion relations, specifically those representing the phenomenon of dimensional reduction in the ultraviolet limit. These models are…