Related papers: Inflation driven by a bare cosmological constant a…
At the level of heuristic effective dynamics, we investigate the cosmological inflation with holonomy corrections of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) in the $k=0$ Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model with a single inflaton field subject to a simple…
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…
We investigate whether inflation requires finely tuned initial conditions in order to explain the degree of flatness and homogeneity observed in the Universe. We achieve this by using the Eisenhart lift, which can be used to write any…
We propose a large class of nonsingular cosmologies of arbitrary spatial curvature whose cosmic history is determined by a primeval dynamical $\Lambda (t)$-term. For all values of the curvature, the models evolve between two extreme de…
We propose a technically natural scenario whereby an initially large cosmological constant (c.c.) is relaxed down to the observed value due to the dynamics of a scalar evolving on a very shallow potential. The model crucially relies on a…
We show that it is possible to obtain inflation and also solve the cosmological constant problem. The theory is invariant under changes of the Lagrangian density $L$ to $L+const$. Then the constant part of a scalar field potential $V$…
The previously proposed modification of the standard (flat) inflationary $\Lambda CDM$ model in which the inflaton field(s) and ``dark energy" are replaced by the vacum in expanding Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker Universe is studied.…
We propose a model of cosmological evolution of the early and late Universe which is consistent with observational data and naturally explains the origin of inflation and dark energy. We show that the de Sitter accelerated expansion of the…
I review the recent 5D self-tuning solutions of the cosmological constant problem, and try to unify two cosmological constant problems within the framework of the self-tuning solutions. One problem, the large cosmological constant needed…
We propose a phenomenological approach to the cosmological constant problem based on generally covariant non-local and acausal modifications of four-dimensional gravity at enormous distances. The effective Newton constant becomes very small…
An alternative inflationary model is proposed predicated upon a consideration of the form of the uncertainty principle in a curved background spacetime. An argument is presented suggesting a possible curvature dependence in the correct…
In this paper we investigate a model of an inflationary universe in Kaluza-Klein theory, which is a four-dimensional de Sitter space plus a one-dimensional compactified internal space. We find that the energy scale for inflation can be…
A stiff matter-dominated universe modeled by a free massless scalar field minimally coupled to gravity in a Friedmann-Lema\^{\i}tre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) geometry is quantized. Generalized complex-width gaussian superpositions of the…
In this work we investigate the inflationary phenomenological implications of a recently developed ghost-free Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity. The resulting theory can be viewed as a scalar Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory of gravity, so by…
We find a unique way of realizing inflation through cyclic phases in an universe with negative vacuum energy. According to the second law of thermodynamics entropy monotonically increases from cycle to cycle, typically by a constant factor.…
We study the non-linear dynamics of an inflationary phase transition in a quartically self coupled inflaton model within the framework of a de Sitter background. Large N and Hartree non-perturbative approximations combined with…
The cosmological constant $\Lambda$ is a measure of the energy density of the vacuum. Therefore properties of the energy of the system in the metastable vacuum state reflect properties of $\Lambda = \Lambda(t)$. We analyze properties of the…
I try to revive, and possibly reconcile, a debate started a few years ago, about the relative roles of a bare cosmological constant and of a vacuum energy, by taking the attitude to try to get the most from the physics now available as…
We develop a quantum-cosmological framework in which the inflationary potential emerges from the structure of the wave function of the universe rather than being postulated. Starting from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for a flat…
For the first time, we investigate the non-perturbative dynamics of single field inflation with a departure from slow-roll. Using simulations, we find that oscillatory features in the potential can drastically alter the course of inflation,…