Related papers: Preheating Axions in String Cosmology
We explore the possibility of obtaining inflation in weakly coupled heterotic string theory, where the model dependent axions are responsible for driving inflation. This model can be considered as a certain extrapolation of…
Cold dark matter axions produced in the post-inflationary Peccei-Quinn symmetry breaking scenario serve as clear targets for their experimental detection, since it is in principle possible to give a sharp prediction for their mass once we…
We study the CMB observables in axion monodromy inflation. These well-motivated scenarios for inflation in string theory have monomial potentials over super-Planckian field ranges, with superimposed sinusoidal modulations from instanton…
The majority of models of inflation in string theory predict an absence of measurable gravitational waves, r << 10^{-3}. The most promising proposals for making string theoretic models that yield measurable tensor fluctuations involve axion…
This thesis is dedicated to the study of inflationary scenarios based on string theory. Inflation is a brief period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe which gives natural explanations for problems of the Standard Big Bang…
We introduce a simple string model of inflation, in which the inflaton field can take trans-Planckian values while driving a period of slow-roll inflation. This leads naturally to a realisation of large field inflation, inasmuch as the…
Brane inflation in superstring theory predicts that cosmic strings (but not domain walls or monopoles) are produced towards the end of the inflationary epoch. Here, we discuss the production, the spectrum and the evolution of such cosmic…
We consider the interaction between perturbations in the inflaton and in the metric during the preheating phase in simple inflationary models. By numerically integrating the Einstein field equations we are able to gauge the impact of…
We study the spectrum of cosmological fluctuations in the D3/D7 brane inflationary universe with particular attention to the parametric excitation of entropy modes during the reheating stage. The same tachyonic instability which renders…
A class of well-motivated models of inflation end by producing cosmic strings. The current status of efforts to calculate and observe the signals from such models are outlined, with a particular emphasis on cosmic strings, and on the Cosmic…
Coherent oscillations of the inflaton field at the end of inflation can parametrically excite fermions in much the same way that bosons are created in preheating. Although Pauli-blocking prohibits the occupation number of created fermions…
The post-inflationary Peccei-Quinn (PQ) symmetry breaking scenario provides a unique opportunity to pinpoint the QCD axion dark matter mass, which is a crucial input for laboratory experiments that are designed for probing specific mass…
In inflationary cosmology, the particles constituting the Universe are created after inflation due to their interaction with moving inflaton field(s) in the process of preheating. In the fermionic sector, the leading channel is out-of…
In addition to spectacular signatures such as black hole superradiance and the rotation of CMB polarization, the plenitude of axions appearing in the string axiverse may have potentially dangerous implications. An example is the…
Particle production caused by the oscillation after inflation is important since it explains reheating after inflation. On the particle theory side, we know that effective action may have additional higher dimensional terms (usually called…
Closed string tachyon condensation in spacetime generates potentials on the worldsheet that model two-dimensional inflationary cosmology. These models illustrate and elucidate a variety of aspects of inflation, in particular the generation…
I report recent studies on the evolution of perturbations in the context of the ``pre-big-bang" scenario typical of string cosmology, with emphasis on the formation of a stochastic background of relic photons and gravitons, and its possible…
Primordial gravitational waves provide a very important stochastic background that could be detected soon with interferometric gravitational wave antennas or indirectly via the induced patterns in the polarization anisotropies of the cosmic…
During inflationary preheating, the energy stored in the inflaton field is rapidly converted into excitations of other entropy fields. This stage is characterized by exponential particle production due to parametric resonance and is…
Thermal inflation was proposed as a mechanism to dilute the density of cosmological moduli. Thermal inflation is driven by a complex scalar field possessing a large vacuum expectation value and a very flat potential, called a `flaton'. Such…