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The quantum O(N) model in the infinite $N$ limit is a paradigm for symmetry-breaking. Qualitatively, its phase diagram is an excellent guide to the equilibrium physics for more realistic values of $N$ in varying spatial dimensions ($d>1$).…
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 treat two possible phenomenological effects of quantum fluctuations of spacetime geometry: spectral line broadening and angular blurring of the image of a distance source. A geometrical construction will be used to express both effects…
We study the nonequilibrium dynamics leading to the formation of topological defects in a symmetry-breaking phase transition of a quantum scalar field with \lambda\Phi^4 self-interaction in a spatially flat, radiation-dominated…
We study how quantum field theory models are modified under the reparametrizations of the space-time coordinates and some simultaneous transformations of the field function. The transformations that turn the action of the massive field in…
We review recent literature on the connection between quantum entanglement and cosmology, with an emphasis on the context of expanding universes. We discuss recent theoretical results reporting on the production of entanglement in quantum…
We study the effects of spacetime noncommutativity on the nonequilibrium dynamics of particles in a thermal bath. We show that the noncommutative thermal bath does not suffer from any further IR/UV mixing problem in the sense that all the…
At very early times, the universe was not in a vacuum state. Under the assumtion that the deviation from equillibrium was large, in particular that it is higher than the scale of inflation, we analyse the conditions for local transitions…
The role of acceleration in particle physics can provide an alternative method for probing the properties of quantum gravity. To analyze acceleration-induced processes one utilizes the formalism of quantum field theory in curved spacetime.…
Resolution of singularities in the Kantowski-Sachs model due to non-perturbative quantum gravity effects is investigated. Using the effective spacetime description for the improved dynamics version of loop quantum Kantowski-Sachs…
Within first-order phase transitions, we investigate the pre-transitional effects due to the nonperturbative, large-amplitude thermal fluctuations which can promote phase mixing before the critical temperature is reached from above. In…
We consider the time evolution of systems in which a spatially homogeneous scalar field is coupled to fermions. The quantum back-reaction is taken into account in one-loop approximation. We set up the basic equations and their…
In contrast to the inflaton's case, the curvature perturbations due to the curvaton field depend strongly on the evolution of the curvaton before its decay. We study in detail the dynamics of the curvaton evolution during and after…
The basic aim of the thesis is the study of the propagation of particles and quasiparticles in non-trivial backgrounds from the quantum field theory point of view. By "non-trivial background" we mean either a non-vacuum state in Minkowski…
The hypothesis of quantum nonequilibrium at the big bang is shown to have observable consequences. For a scalar field on expanding space, we show that relaxation to quantum equilibrium (in de Broglie-Bohm theory) is suppressed for field…
It was recently advanced the argument that Unruh effect emerges from the study of quantum field theory in quantum space-time. Quantum space-time is identified with the Hilbert space of a new kind of quantum fields, the accelerated fields,…
General relativistic corrections to the expansion rate of the Universe arise when the Einstein equations are averaged over a spatial volume in a locally inhomogeneous cosmology. It has been suggested that they may contribute to the observed…
In this paper, we study the Casimir effect in a curved spacetime described by gravitational actions quadratic in the curvature. In particular, we consider the dynamics of a massless scalar field confined between two nearby plates and…
A generalised equivalence principle is put forward according to which space-time symmetries and internal quantum symmetries are indistinguishable before symmetry breaking. Based on this principle, a higher-dimensional extension of Minkowski…
The evolution of the Universe is the ultimate laboratory to study fundamental physics across energy scales that span about 25 orders of magnitude: from the grand unification scale through particle and nuclear physics scales down to the…