Related papers: On Cosmological Singularities in String Theory
We study string theory in supersymmetric time-dependent backgrounds. In the framework of general relativity, supersymmetry for spacetimes without flux implies the existence of a covariantly constant null vector, and a relatively simple form…
We attempt to understand the fate of spacelike gravitational singularities in string theory via the quantum stress tensor for string matter in a fixed background. We first approximate the singularity with a homogeneous anisotropic…
We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future)…
The origin of Big Bang singularity in 3+1 dimensions can be understood in an exact string theory background obtained by an analytic continuation of a cigar like geometry with a nontrivial dilaton. In a T-dual conformal field theory picture…
We consider string theory in a time dependent orbifold with a null singularity. The singularity separates a contracting universe from an expanding universe, thus constituting a big crunch followed by a big bang. We quantize the theory both…
Progress on string theory in curved spacetimes since 1992 are reviewed. After a short introduction on strings in Minkowski and curved spacetimes, we focus on strings in cosmological spacetimes. The classical behaviour of strings in FRW and…
We consider the propagation of classical and quantum strings on cosmological space-times which interpolate from a collapsing phase to an expanding phase. We begin by considering the classical propagation of strings on space-times with…
Non-singular two and three dimensional string cosmologies are constructed using the exact conformal field theories corresponding to SO(2,1)/SO(1,1) and SO(2,2)/SO(2,1). All semi-classical curvature singularities are canceled in the exact…
String theory is a quantum theory that reproduces the results of General Relativity at long distances but is completely different at short distances. Mathematically, string theory is based on a very new -- and little understood -- framework…
Non-singular two and three dimensional string cosmologies are constructed using the exact conformal field theories corresponding to SO(2,1)/SO(1,1) and SO(2,2)/SO(2,1). {\it All} semi-classical curvature singularities are canceled in the…
We consider the effective action for strings and describe in detail the evolution of a four dimensional homogeneous isotropic universe with matter included. We find that the evolution, which is singular in general, becomes singularity free…
The spacetime physics of bulk closed string tachyon condensation is studied at the level of a two-derivative effective action. We derive the unique perturbative tachyon potential consistent with a full class of linearized tachyonic…
In this talk we discuss the cosmic singularity. We motivate the need to correct general relativity in the study of singularities, and mention the kind of corrections provided by string theory. We review how string theory resolves time-like…
We review various aspects of de Sitter spacetime in string theory: its status as an effective field theory spacetime solution, its relation to the vacuum energy problem in string theory, its (global) holographic definition in terms of two…
The dynamics of the early universe may have been profoundly influenced by spatial anisotropies. A search for such backgrounds in the context of string cosmology has uncovered the existence of an entire class of (spatatially) homogeneous but…
An interpretation of spacelike singularities in string theory uses target space duality to relate the collapsing Schwarzschild geometry near the singularity to an inflationary cosmology in dual variables. An appealing picture thus results…
I argue that string theory compactified on a Riemann surface crosses over at small volume to a higher dimensional background of supercritical string theory. Several concrete measures of the count of degrees of freedom of the theory yield…
We propose a new cosmological scenario which resolves the conventional initial singularity problem. The space-time geometry has an unconventional time-like singularity on a lower dimensional hypersurface, with localized energy density. The…
Recent progress on the complete set of solutions of two dimensional classical string theory in any curved spacetime is reviewed. When the curvature is smooth the string solutions are deformed folded string solutions as compared to flat…
Two dimensional classical string theory is solved in any curved spacetime. The complete spacetime required to describe the classical string motions turns out to be larger than the global space required by complete particle geodesics. The…