Related papers: Time to move on?
Modern cosmology has created a tight link between particle physics / field theory and a wealth of new observational data on the structure of the Universe. These lecture notes focus on some of the most important aspects concerning the…
Einstein's theory of General Relativity is the benchmark example for empirical success and mathematical elegance in theoretical physics. However, in spite of being the most successfully tested theory in physics, there are strong theoretical…
Inflation predicts that quantum fluctuations determine the large scale structure of the Universe. This raises the striking possibility that quantum mechanics, developed to describe nature at short distances, can be tested by studying nature…
The modern cosmology is based on inflationary models with baryosynthesis and dark matter/energy.It implies extension of particle symmetry beyond the Standard model. Studies of physical basis of the modern cosmology combine direct searches…
In this paper we address the issue of exploring some cosmological scenarios in modified Einstein gravity through non-dynamical (auxiliary) fields. We found that all scenarios are controlled by a specific parameter associated with an…
In the framework of inflation, scales which nowadays correspond to large scale structures were smaller than the Planck length at the beginning of inflation. Therefore, measurements of CMBR anisotropy or surveys of galaxies and of clusters…
With the beginning of the XXIst century, a physical model of our Universe, usually called the Standard Cosmological Model (SCM), is reaching an important level of consolidation, based on accurate astrophysical data and also on theoretical…
We argue that the Higgs boson of the Standard Model can lead to inflation and produce cosmological perturbations in accordance with observations. An essential requirement is the non-minimal coupling of the Higgs scalar field to gravity; no…
Loop quantum cosmology provides an efficient framework to study the evolution of the Universe beyond the classical Big Bang paradigm. Because of holonomy corrections, the singularity is replaced by a "bounce". The dynamics of the background…
We are considering the cosmological consequences of an induced gravity theory coupled to the minimal standard model of particle physics. The non-minimal coupling parameter between gravity and the Higgs field must then be very large,…
We consider general curvature-invariant modifications of the Einstein-Hilbert action that become important only in regions of extremely low space-time curvature. We investigate the far future evolution of the universe in such models,…
There are many theories that have resided these last fifty years within the hazy mist we have been calling the Standard Model (SM) of elementary particles. An attempt is made here to construct a coherent description of the SM today, because…
We give an introduction to the cosmological multiverse, aimed at an audience of artists. We discuss general relativity -- our modern theory of gravity -- and the cosmological constant, which is widely believed to be responsible for the…
We study a class of non-local, action-based, and purely gravitational models. These models seek to describe a cosmology in which inflation is driven by a large, bare cosmological constant that is screened by the self-gravitation between the…
In most current models of inflation based on a weakly self-coupled scalar matter field minimally coupled to gravity, the period of inflation lasts so long that, at the beginning of the inflationary period, the physical wavelengths of…
Most of the literature on general relativity over the last century assumes that the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is zero. However, by now independent observations have led to a consensus that the dynamics of the universe is best…
Taking a hint from Dirac's large number hypothesis, we note the existence of cosmologically combined conservation laws that work to cosmologically long time. We thus modify Einstein's theory of general relativity with fixed gravitation…
Cosmology is becoming an important tool to test particle physics models. We provide an overview of the standard model of cosmology with an emphasis on the observations relevant for testing fundamental physics.
This thesis investigates a toy model for inflation in a class of modified theories of gravity in the metric formalism. Instead of the standard procedure -- assuming a non-linear Lagrangian $f(R)$ in the Jordan frame -- we start from a…
One hundred years ago this year attempts began to generalise general relativity with the ambition of incorporating electromagnetism alongside gravitation in a unified field theory. These developments led to gauge theories and models with…