Related papers: de Sitter Duality and Holographic Renormalization
In the framework of finite temperature conformal scalar field theory on de Sitter space-time the linearized Einstein equations for the renormalized stress tensor are exactly solved. In this theory quantum field fluctuations are concentrated…
Light scalars in inflationary spacetimes suffer from logarithmic infrared divergences at every order in perturbation theory. This corresponds to the scalar field values in different Hubble patches undergoing a random walk of quantum…
We investigate the entropy dynamics of de Sitter spacetime during the inflationary phase. The cosmological horizon in de Sitter spacetime, which limits the causally accessible region for an observer, exhibits thermal properties similar to a…
To derive a power spectrum for energy density inhomogeneities in a closed universe, we study a spatially-closed inflation-modified hot big bang model whose evolutionary history is divided into three epochs: an early slowly-rolling scalar…
In this review I consider several different issues related to inflation. I will begin with the wave function of the Universe. This issue is pretty old, but recently there were some new insights based on the theory of the self-reproducing…
The empty space (with no matter fields) is not really empty because of natural metric fluctuations, quantum and classical. We show that gravitons as well as classical gravitational waves of super-horizon wavelengths are able to form the de…
A semi-classical analysis of vacuum energy in the expanding spacetime suggests that the cosmological term decays with time, with a concomitant matter production. For early times we find, in Planck units, $\Lambda \approx H^4$, where H is…
The existing thermodynamics of the cosmological horizon in de-Sitter spacetime is established in the micro-canonical ensemble, while thermodynamics of black hole horizons are established in the canonical ensemble. Generally in the ordinary…
Viable models of modified gravity which satisfy both local as well as cosmological tests are investigated. It is demonstrated that some versions of such highly non-linear models exhibit multiply de Sitter universe solutions, which often…
The linear cosmological perturbation theory of almost homogeneous and isotropic perfect fluid and scalar field universes is reconsidered and formally simplified. Using the existence of a covariant conserved quantity on large perturbation…
We interpret cosmological evolution holographically as a renormalisation group flow in a dual Euclidean field theory, as suggested by the conjectured dS/CFT correspondence. Inflation is described by perturbing around the infra-red fixed…
This thesis explores the thermodynamics of the cosmological horizon, aiming to make progress towards a better understanding of the microscopic nature of its entropy. We utilise the constrained nature of low-dimensional gravity to do so and…
We consider cosmological inflation generated by a scalar field slowly rolling off from a de Sitter maximum of its potential. The models belong to the class of hilltop models and represent the most general model of this kind in which the…
The possibility to construct inflationary models for the renormalization-group improved potentials corresponding to scalar electrodynamics and to $SU(2)$ and $SU(5)$ models is investigated. In all cases, the tree-level potential, which…
We investigate when effective theories of a scalar field on (quasi-)de Sitter background break down through the stochastic formalism. We derive the Fokker-Planck equation leaving the second order time derivative of the scalar field.…
We develop our recent suggestion that inflation may be made past eternal, so that there is no initial cosmological singularity or "beginning of time". Inflation with multiple vacua generically approaches a steady-state statistical…
We employ holographic duality to compute $\langle T_{\mu \nu} \rangle$ in strongly coupled $\mathcal N = 4$ supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory and then study evolution of the semiclassical Einstein field equations sourced by $\langle T_{\mu…
This paper discusses the problem of inflation in the context of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Cosmology. We show how, after a simple change of variables, to quantize the problem in a way which parallels the classical discussion. The result is…
We consider a holographic description of the inflationary multiverse, according to which the wave function of the universe is interpreted as the generating functional for a lower dimensional Euclidean theory. We analyze a simple model where…
Since the advent of inflation, several theorems have been proven suggesting that although inflation can (and generically does) continue eternally into the future, it cannot be extended eternally into the past to create a ``steady-state''…