Related papers: Initial conditions for cosmological perturbations
This article reviews a recent work by a couple of colleagues and myself about the shortcomings of the standard explanations of the quantum origin of cosmic structure in the inflationary scenario, and a proposal to address them. The point it…
We point out a new phenomenon which seems to be generic in 4d effective theories of scalar fields coupled to Einstein gravity, when applied to cosmology. A lift of such theories to a Weyl-invariant extension allows one to define classical…
Hawking's singularity theorem says that cosmological solutions arising from initial data with positive mean curvature have a past singularity. However, the nature of the singularity remains unclear. We therefore ask: If the initial…
A generic feature of cosmic quintessence models is the possibility of significant energy density in the scalar field during the radiation dominated epoch. This possibility is even greater if the quintessence field begins in a…
We establish analogues of the Hawking and Penrose singularity theorems based on (a) averaged energy conditions with exponential damping; (b) conditions on local stress-energy averages inspired by the Quantum Energy Inequalities satisfied by…
We study the generation of density perturbations in the ekpyrotic scenario for the early universe, including gravitational backreaction. We expose interesting subtleties that apply to both inflationary and ekpyrotic models. Our analysis…
The recent Planck Legacy 2018 release has confirmed the presence of an enhanced lensing amplitude in CMB power spectra compared to that predicted in the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. A closed universe can provide a physical explanation for…
We explain in detail the quantum-to-classical transition for the cosmological perturbations using only the standard rules of quantum mechanics: the Schrodinger equation and Born's rule applied to a subsystem. We show that the conditioned,…
We focus on the Penrose's Weyl Curvature Hypothesis in a general framework encompassing many specific models discussed in literature. We introduce a candidate density for the Weyl entropy in pure spacetime perfect fluid regions and show…
We present some of the recent results and open questions on the causality problem in General Relativity. The concept of singularity is intimately connected with future trapped surface and inner event horizon formation. We offer a brief…
We establish purely geometric or metric-based criteria for the validity of the separate universe ansatz, under which the evolution of small-scale observables in a long-wavelength perturbation is indistinguishable from a separate…
Cosmological models where the standard big bang is replaced by a bounce have been studied for decades. The situation has, however, dramatically changed in the past years for two reasons: first, because new ways to probe the early Universe…
The possibility of avoiding the big bang singularity by means of a generalized uncertainty principle is investigated. In relation with this matter, the statistical mechanics of a free-particle system obeying the generalized uncertainty…
Quiescent cosmology and the Weyl curvature hypothesis possess a mathematical framework, namely the definition of an Isotropic Singularity, but only for the initial state of the universe. A complementary framework is necessary to also encode…
We consider a perfectly homogeneous and isotropic universe which undergoes a sudden phase transition. If the transition produces topological defects, which we assume, perturbations in the geometry and the cosmic fluid also suddenly appear.…
We study the inflationary perturbations in general (classically) scale-invariant theories. Such scenario is motivated by the hierarchy problem and provides natural inflationary potentials and dark matter candidates. We analyse in detail all…
There is an apparent power deficit relative to the Lambda-CDM prediction of the CMB spectrum at large scales, which, though not yet statistically significant, persists from WMAP to Planck data. We first present a simple toy model…
Suppose the usual description of spacetime as a 4-dimensional manifold with a Lorentzian metric breaks down at Planck energies. Can we still construct sensible theoretical models of the universe? Are they testable? Do they lead to a…
It is shown that the initial conditions in the quasi-Heisenberg quantization scheme can be set at the initial cosmological singularity per se. This possibility is provided by finiteness of some quantities, namely momentums of the dynamical…
An alternative to the Big Bang cosmologies is obtained by the Big Bounce cosmologies. In this paper, we study a bounce cosmology with a Type IV singularity occurring at the bouncing point, in the context of $F(R)$ modified gravity. We…