Related papers: What Moves the Heavens Above?
I review a string-inspired cosmological model, with gravitational anomalies present at very early epochs, which includes a totally antisymmetric torsion, that in (3+1)-dimensions is equivalent to a pseudoscalar (Kalb-Ramond, string-model…
Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful `cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both…
Many studies have been carried out since T.Padmanabhan proposed that the cosmic acceleration can be understood from the perspective that spacetime dynamics is an emergent phenomenon. Motivated by such a new paradigm, we firstly study the de…
Inflation provides a unified paradigm for understanding the isotropy of the cosmic microwave background (CMB), the flatness problem, and the origin of large-scale structure. Although the physics responsible for inflation is not yet well…
The standard big bang cosmology has been greatly successful in explaining many observational aspects of the real universe. However, two particular diffficulties faced by it are the so-called ``horizon'' and ``flatness'' problems. By…
The observed acceleration of the present universe is shown to be well explained by the holographic dark energy characterized by the total comoving horizon of the universe ($\eta$HDE). It is of interest to notice that the very large…
We propose a cosmological model in the framework of Poincar\'e gauge gravity, in which cosmological constant, inflaton, and dark matter candidate all naturally originate. Cosmological constant originates in the process of breaking of the…
Assuming a closed universe with slight positive curvature, cosmic expansion is modeled as a heat engine where the '"system'" is defined collectively as those regions of space within the observable universe which will later evolve into voids…
We consider a k-essence model in which a single scalar field can be responsible for both primordial inflation and the present observed acceleration of the cosmological background geometry, while also admitting a nonsingular de Sitter…
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new, accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments. Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate of…
This chapter aims to present an introduction to current research on the nature of the cosmological dark matter and the origin of galaxies and large scale structure within the standard theoretical framework: gravitational collapse of…
Despite its continued observational successes, there is a persistent (and growing) interest in extending cosmology beyond the standard model, $\Lambda$CDM. This is motivated by a range of apparently serious theoretical issues, involving…
While there is no consensus about the history of time since the beginning, in this paper I will discuss some possibilities. We have a pretty clear picture of cosmic history from the electroweak phase transition through the time of…
In inflation cosmologies, cosmic structure develops through the gravitational instability of the inevitable quantum noise in primordial scalar fields. I show how the acceleration of the universe defines the shape of the primordial spectrum…
We have studied the evolution of the Universe in the generalized Einstein action of the form $R+\beta R^2$, where $R$ is the scalar curvature and $\beta=\rm const.$. We have found exact cosmological solutions that predict the present cosmic…
Among various phenomenological $\Lambda$ models, a time-dependent model $\dot \Lambda\sim H^3$ is selected here to investigate the $\Lambda$-CDM cosmology. Using this model the expressions for the time-dependent equation of state parameter…
The large-scale magnetic fields we observe today in galaxies and galaxy clusters could be the result of a pure quantum effect taking place during inflation, to wit, the creation of particles (photons) out from the vacuum in a curved…
We present a mechanism for the emergence of cosmic acceleration within the mean-field approximation of Group Field Theory models of quantum gravity. Depending on the interaction type, the resulting cosmological dynamics can either feature a…
Inflation provides a natural mechanism to account for the origin of cosmic structures. The generation of primordial inhomogeneities during inflation can be understood via the spontaneous creation of quanta from the vacuum. We show that when…
One of the major pillars of modern cosmology theory is a period of accelerating expansion in the early universe. This accelerating expansion, or inflation, must be sustained for at least 30 e--foldings. One mechanism used to drive the…