Related papers: Where was past low-entropy?
We discuss the difficulties of forming earth-like planets in metal-poor environments, such as those prevailing in the Galactic halo (Pop II), the Magellanic Clouds, and the early universe. We suggest that, with less heavy elements…
We present a new picture of the early universe in finite nonlocal quantum gravity, which is Weyl invariant at the classical and quantum levels. The high-energy regime of the theory consists of two phases, a Weyl invariant trans-Planckian…
Cosmic voids are low-mass-density regions on intergalactic scales. They are where cosmic expansion and acceleration are most dominant, important places to understand and analyze for cosmology. This entry summarises theoretical underpinnings…
Since the seminal work of Verlinde, the idea that gravity may be an emergent force of entropic origin has gained widespread attention. Many generalizations of this key idea have been considered in the literature, starting from well-known…
If the topology of the universe is compact we show how it significantly changes our assessment of the naturalness of the observed structure of the universe and the likelihood of its present state of high isotropy and near flatness arising…
While observational cosmology has recently progressed fast, it revealed a serious dilemma called dark energy: an unknown source of exotic energy with negative pressure driving a current accelerating phase of the universe. All attempts so…
We investigate the distribution of energy density in a stationary self-reproducing inflationary universe. We show that the main fraction of volume of the universe in a state with a given density $\rho$ at any given moment of time $t$ in…
It is commonplace in discussions of modern cosmology to assert that the early universe began in a special state. Conventionally, cosmologists characterize this fine-tuning in terms of the horizon and flatness problems. I argue that the…
Early JWST observations have revealed the ubiquitous presence in the early Universe, up to z about 16, of extreme baryon concentrations, namely forming globular clusters, extremely dense galaxies that may or may not be UV bright, and…
We derive a formula for the nonequilibrium entropy of a classical stochastic field in terms of correlation functions of this field. The formalism is then applied to define the entropy of gravitational perturbations (both gravitational waves…
How did it all begin? Although this question has undoubtedly lingered for as long as humans have walked the Earth, the answer still eludes us. Yet since my grandparents were born, scientists have been able to refine this question to a…
Some general considerations on the notion of entropy in physics are presented. An attempt is made to clarify the question of the differentiation between physical entropy (the Clausius-Boltzmann one) and quantities called entropies…
I critically examine the notion of ``irreversibility,'' and discuss in what sense it applies to the spontaneous creation of particles in external fields. The investigation reveals that particle creation in very strong fields can only be…
What can we know about the universe? I outline a few of the fundamental limitations that are posed to our understanding of the cosmos, such as the existence of horizons, the fact that we occupy a specific place in space and time, the…
Flat space-time has not heretofore been thought a suitable locus in which to construct model universes because of the presumed necessity of incorporating gravitation in such models and because of the historical lack of a theory of…
Entropy plays a crucial role in characterization of information and entanglement, but it is not a scalar quantity and for many systems it is different for different relativistic observers. Loop quantum gravity predicts the…
The primordial Universe can be used as a laboratory to set constraints on quantum gravity. In the framework of Loop Quantum Cosmology, we show that such a proposal for quantum gravity not only solves for the big bang singularity issue but…
We investigate cosmological solutions for the modified gravity theory obtained from quantum relative entropy between the metric of spacetime and the metric induced by the geometry and matter fields. The vacuum equations admit inflationary…
In these lectures I focus on early universe models which can explain the currently observed structure on large scales. I begin with a survey of inflationary cosmology, the current paradigm for understanding the origin of the universe as we…
In this paper, we suggest that the early universe starts from a high-energetic state with a two dimensional description and the state recovers to be four dimensional when the universe evolves into the radiation dominated phase. This…