Related papers: Will quantum cosmology resurrect chaotic inflation…
The standard inflationary version of the origin of the cosmic structure as the result of the quantum fluctuations during the inflationary stage is less than fully satisfactory: how exactly does the Universe transit from a homogeneous and…
Quantum creation of Universes with compact spacelike sections that have curvature $k$ either closed, flat or open, i.e. $k=\pm1,0$ are studied. In the flat and open cases, the superpotential of the Wheeler De Witt equation is significantly…
This article discusses density perturbations in inflationary models, offering a pedagogical description of how these perturbations are generated by quantum fluctuations in the early universe. A key feature of inflation is that that rapid…
In this review I consider several different issues related to inflation. I will begin with the wave function of the Universe. This issue is pretty old, but recently there were some new insights based on the theory of the self-reproducing…
We consider a time independent Schrodinger type equation derived from the equations of motion that drives a single scalar field in a standard cosmology model for inflation in a flat space-time with a Friedman-Robertson-Walker (FRW) metric…
We study cosmological solutions for the very early universe beginning at the Planck scale for a universe containing radiation, curvature and, as a simplification of a possible scalar field potential, a cosmological constant term. The…
Non-perturbative quantum geometric effects in Loop Quantum Cosmology predict a $\rho^2$ modification to the Friedmann equation at high energies. The quadratic term is negative definite and can lead to generic bounces when the matter energy…
We compute the primordial scalar, vector and tensor metric perturbations arising from quantum field inflation. Quantum field inflation takes into account the nonperturbative quantum dynamics of the inflaton consistently coupled to the…
The particle production process is reviewed, through which cosmic inflation can produce a scale invariant superhorizon spectrum of perturbations of suitable fields starting from their quantum fluctuations. Afterwards, in the context of the…
In this paper we propose a novel unified cosmological model that connects a pre-inflationary epoch, starting at the Planckian time, with the onset of inflation within a single scalar-field framework. The pre-inflationary phase is…
Since the standard inflationary paradigm is based on quantum field theory on classical space-times, it excludes the Planck era. Using techniques from loop quantum gravity, the paradigm is extended to a self-consistent theory from the Planck…
We consider cosmological inflation generated by a scalar field slowly rolling off from a de Sitter maximum of its potential. The models belong to the class of hilltop models and represent the most general model of this kind in which the…
The theory of cosmological fluctuations assumes that the pre-inflationary state of the universe was the quantum vacuum of a scalar field(s) coupled to gravity. The observed cosmic microwave background fluctuations are then interpreted as…
We consider the semi-classical dynamics of a free massive scalar field in a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological spacetime. The scalar field is quantized using the polymer quantization method assuming that it is described by a gaussian…
The quantum cosmology of a higher-derivative derivative gravity theory arising from the heterotic string effective action is reviewed. A new type of Wheeler-DeWitt equation is obtained when the dilaton is coupled to the quadratic curvature…
Cosmological perturbations are generally described by quantum fields on (curved but) classical space-times. While this strategy has a large domain of validity, it can not be justified in the quantum gravity era where curvature and matter…
This paper contains a detailed study of the properties of a simple model attempting to explain dark energy as originated from quantum fluctuations of a light spectator scalar field in inflation. In [1] we recently outlined how Starobinsky's…
A semiclassical cosmological model is considered which consists of a closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker in the presence of a cosmological constant, which mimics the effect of an inflaton field, and a massless, non-conformally coupled quantum…
After reviewing the general ideas of quantum cosmology (Wheeler-DeWitt equation, boundary conditions, interpretation of $\psi$), I discuss how these ideas can be tested observationally. Observational predictions differ for different choices…
Starobinsky has suggested an inflation model which is obtained from the vacuum Einstein's equations modified by the one-loop corrections due to quantized matter fields. Although the one-loop gravitational action is not known for a general…