Related papers: The matter-ekpyrotic bounce scenario in Loop Quant…
Background boucing cosmologies in the framework of General Relativity, driven by a single scalar field filling the Universe, and with a quasi-matter domination period, i.e., depicting the so-called Matter Bounce Scenario, are reconstructed…
We consider a cosmological scenario in which a scale-invariant spectrum of curvature perturbations is generated by a rapidly-evolving equation of state on a slowly expanding background. This scenario generalizes the "adiabatic ekpyrotic"…
The spectrum and amplitude of the stochastic background of relic gravitons produced in a bouncing universe is calculated. The matter content of the model consists of dust and radiation fluids, and the bounce occurs due to quantum…
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…
In this article, we explore the homogeneous and isotropic flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) model in Chameleon cosmology. By considering a non-minimal coupling between the scalar field and matter, we present a non-singular bouncing…
A bouncing universe with a long period of contraction during which the average density is pressureless (the same equation of state as matter) as cosmologically observable scales exit the Hubble horizon has been proposed as an explanation…
The ekpyrotic and cyclic universe scenarios have revived the idea that the density perturbations apparent in today's universe could have been generated in a `pre-singularity' epoch before the big bang. These scenarios provide explicit…
We study a contracting universe composed of cold dark matter and radiation, and with a positive cosmological constant. As is well known from standard cosmological perturbation theory, under the assumption of initial quantum vacuum…
Ekpyrotic bouncing cosmologies have been proposed as alternatives to inflation. In these scenarios, the universe is smoothed and flattened during a period of slow contraction preceding the bounce while quantum fluctuations generate nearly…
In bouncing cosmological models, either classical or quantum, the big bang singularity is replaced by a regular bounce. A challenging question in such models is how to keep the shear under control in the contracting phase, as it is…
A bouncing cosmology with an initial matter-dominated phase of contraction during which scales which are currently probed with cosmological observations exit the Hubble radius provides a mechanism alternative to inflation for producing a…
The Dapor-Liegener model of Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC), which depicts an emergent universe from a de Sitter regime in the contracting phase is studied from the mathematical viewpoint of dynamical systems and compared with the standard…
As is known, in modified cosmological theories of gravity many of the cosmologies which could not be generated by standard Einstein gravity, can be consistently described by $F(R)$ theories. Using known reconstruction techniques, we…
We perform a detailed investigation of the simplest possible cosmological model in which a bounce can occur, namely that where the dynamics is led by a simple massive scalar field in a general self-interacting potential and a background…
We investigate quantum decoherence in a class of models which interpolates between expanding (inflation) and contracting (ekpyrosis) scenarios. For the cases which result in a scale-invariant power spectrum, we find that ekpyrotic universes…
We consider non-singular bouncing cosmologies, such as the new ekpyrotic model, in which the universe undergoes a slow contraction phase with equation of state $w \gg 1$, followed by a bounce that occurs at a finite scale factor when…
We confront various nonsingular bouncing cosmologies with the recently released BICEP2 data and investigate the observational constraints on their parameter space. In particular, within the context of the effective field approach, we…
We study the transfer of cosmological perturbations through a nonsingular cosmological bounce in a special model in which the parameters of the bounce and the equation of state of matter are chosen such as to allow for an exact calculation…
Based on concepts drawn from the ekpyrotic scenario and M-theory, we elaborate our recent proposal of a cyclic model of the Universe. In this model, the Universe undergoes an endless sequence of cosmic epochs which begin with the Universe…
Combining intervals of ekpyrotic (ultra-slow) contraction with a (non-singular) classical bounce naturally leads to a novel cyclic theory of the universe in which the Hubble parameter, energy density and temperature oscillate periodically,…