Related papers: Quantum Effects in Cosmology
In the standard inflationary paradigm the inhomogeneities observed in the CMB arise from quantum fluctuations of an initially homogeneous and isotropic vacuum state. This picture suffers from two well-known weaknesses. First, it assumes…
In massless scalar field cosmology, imposing the universe's physical volume as fundamentally discrete resolves the big bang singularity via a big bounce. We use quantum field theory on curved background to numerically track the number of…
This is a review of particle-theory models of inflation, and of their predictions for the primordial density perturbation that is thought to be the origin of structure in the Universe. It contains mini-reviews of the relevant observational…
We argue that the anomalous power asymmetry observed in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) may have originated in a cosmic bounce preceding inflation. In loop quantum cosmology (LQC) the big bang singularity is generically replaced by a…
We consider quantum \cal{N} = 4 super Yang-Mills theory interacting in a covariant way with \cal{N} = 4 conformal supergravity. The induced large N effective action for such a theory is calculated on a dilaton-gravitational background using…
We consider curved space quantum corrections to the equations of motion of the inflaton field in the early Universe. Using the stochastic formalism in phase space, we demonstrate that the quantum corrected evolution of the inflaton can…
The theory of inflation is one of the fundamental and revolutionary developments of modern cosmology that became able to explain many issues of early universe in the context of the standard cosmological model (SCM). However, the initial…
In this paper we study possible observational consequences of the bouncing cosmology. We consider a model where a phase of inflation is preceded by a cosmic bounce. While we consider in this paper only that the bounce is due to loop quantum…
Loop quantum cosmology is a symmetry-reduced application of loop quantum gravity. The theory predicts a bounce for the universe at the Planck scale and resolves the singularity of standard cosmology. The dynamics is also governed by an…
The pre-big-bang cosmology inspired by superstring theories has been suggested as an alternative to slow-roll inflation. We analyze, in both the Jordan and Einstein frames, the effect of spatial curvature on this scenario and show that too…
Bouncing models are alternatives to inflationary cosmology that replace the initial Big-Bang singularity by a `bouncing' phase. A deeper understanding of the initial conditions of the universe, in these scenarios, requires knowledge of…
By quantizing the background as well as the perturbations in a simple one fluid cosmological model, we show that there exists an ambiguity in the choice of relevant variables, potentially leading to incompatible observational physical…
Detailed measurements of the cosmic microwave background indicate the large-scale homogeneity of the universe. On very small scales, we observe however inhomogeneities such as galaxies, stars, planets and ourselves. In the context of hot…
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…
We review inflationary cosmology in modified gravity such as $R^2$ gravity with its extensions in order to generalize the Starobinsky inflation model. In particular, we explore inflation realized by three kinds of effects: modification of…
This introductory review is addressed to beginning researchers. Some of the distinguishing features of loop quantum gravity are illustrated through loop quantum cosmology of FRW models. In particular, these examples illustrate: i) how…
Cosmological inflation remains to be a unique mechanism of generation of plausible initial conditions in the early universe. In particular, it generates the primordial quasiclassical perturbations with power spectrum determined by the…
Quantum geometry predicts that a universe evolves through an inflationary phase at small volume before exiting gracefully into a standard Friedmann phase. This does not require the introduction of additional matter fields with ad hoc…
The era of precision cosmology has allowed us to accurately determine many important cosmological parameters, in particular via the CMB. Confronting Loop Quantum Cosmology with these observations provides us with a powerful test of the…
Inflationary models are generally credited with explaining the large scale homogeneity, isotropy, and flatness of our universe as well as accounting for the origin of structure (i.e., the deviations from exact homogeneity) in our universe.…