Related papers: Collapsing universe before time
Recently a covariant entropy conjecture has been proposed for dynamical horizons. We apply this conjecture to concordance cosmological models, namely, those cosmological models filled with perfect fluids, in the presence of a positive…
An oscillating universe cycles through a series of expansions and contractions. We propose a model in which ``phantom'' energy with a supernegative pressure ($p < - \rho$) grows rapidly and dominates the late-time expanding phase. The…
We extend the cosmological predictions from assuming the total action of the universe is finite. When initial and final singularities in curvature invariants are avoided, it leads to singularities in the gravitational action of the…
This paper investigates the manner in which classical universes are obtained in the no-boundary quantum state. In this context, universes can be characterised as classical (in a WKB sense) when the wavefunction is highly oscillatory, i.e.…
In an undulant universe, cosmic expansion is characterized by alternating periods of acceleration and deceleration. We examine cosmologies in which the dark-energy equation of state varies periodically with the number of e-foldings of the…
We continue our analysis of a quantum cosmology model describing a flat Friedmann--Lema\^itre--Robertson--Walker universe filled with a (free) massless scalar field and an arbitrary perfect fluid. For positive energy density in the scalar…
Ekpyrotic bouncing cosmologies have been proposed as alternatives to inflation. In these scenarios, the universe is smoothed and flattened during a period of slow contraction preceding the bounce while quantum fluctuations generate nearly…
A period of slow contraction with equation of state w > 1, known as an ekpyrotic phase, has been shown to flatten and smooth the universe if it begins the phase with small perturbations. In this paper, we explore how robust and powerful the…
The late time accelerated expansion of the universe can be realized using scalar fields with given self-interacting potentials. Here we consider a straightforward approach where a three cosmic fluid mixture is assumed. The fluids are…
We consider the ekpyrotic paradigm in the context of loop quantum cosmology. In loop quantum cosmology the classical big-bang singularity is resolved due to quantum gravity effects, and so the contracting ekpyrotic branch of the universe…
We study the redundancies in the global spacetime description of the eternally inflating multiverse using the quantum extremal surface prescription. We argue that a sufficiently large spatial region in a bubble universe has an entanglement…
Using the holographic entropy proposal for a closed universe by Verlinde, a bound on equations of state for different stages of the universe is obtained. Further exploring this bound, we find that an inflationary universe naturally emerges…
We investigate cosmological evolution in models where the effective potential V(\phi) may become negative for some values of the field \phi. Phase portraits of such theories in space of variables (\phi,\dot\phi,H) have several qualitatively…
Even when completely and consistently formulated, a fundamental theory of physics and cosmological boundary conditions may not give unambiguous and unique predictions for the universe we observe; indeed inflation, string/M theory, and…
The universe can be made flat and smooth by undergoing a phase of ultra-slow (ekpyrotic) contraction, a condition achievable with a single, canonical scalar field and conventional general relativity. It has been argued, though, that…
We consider the no-boundary proposal for homogeneous isotropic closed universes with a cosmological constant and a scalar field with a quadratic potential. In the semi-classical limit, it predicts classical behavior at late times if the…
We consider conditions under which a universe contracting towards a big crunch can make a transition to an expanding big bang universe. A promising example is 11-dimensional M-theory in which the eleventh dimension collapses, bounces, and…
Recently we proposed a mechanism for sequestering the Standard Model vacuum energy that predicts that the universe will collapse. Here we present a simple mechanism for bringing about this collapse, employing a scalar field whose potential…
Many cosmological models assume or imply that the total size of the universe is very large, perhaps even infinite. Here we argue instead that the universe might be comparatively small, in fact not much larger than the currently observed…
In cosmology based on general relativity, the universe is modeled as a fluid. The transition from the Einstein field equation to its large-scale (cosmological) version is thus analogous to the transition, for a system consisting of a large…