Related papers: Multiverses and physical cosmology
How is the universe organized on large scales? How did this structure evolve from the unknown initial conditions to the present time? The answers to these questions will shed light on the cosmology we live in, the amount, composition and…
An unresolved question in inflationary cosmology is the assignment of probabilities to different types of events that can occur in the eternally inflating multiverse. We explore the possibility that the resolution of this "measure problem"…
Scientific cosmology has now reached its period of maturity with the establishment of a standard model, which is the theory of an expanding universe. The question of whether this expansion resolves itself, in the past, into a singularity…
The analyzability of the universe into subsystems requires a concept of the "independence" of the subsystems, of which the relativistic quantum world supports many distinct notions which either coincide or are trivial in the classical…
Susskind claims in his recent book The Cosmic Landscape that evidence for the existence and nature of `pocket universes' in a multiverse would be available in the detailed nature of the Cosmic Blackbody Background Radiation that constantly…
Focus of these lectures is the challenge of explaining the origin of structure in the Universe. The interplay between quantum field theory and classical general relativity has given rise to several interesting cosmological models which…
A brane universe moving in a curved higher dimensional bulk space is considered. The motion induces a cosmological evolution on the universe brane that is indistiguishable from a similar one induced by matter density on the brane. The…
The concept of a random Lagrangian is proposed. It is considered as a basis for a new view of the old problems such as renormalization, nonzero vacuum energy and the anthropic principle. It gives rise to nontrivial consequences both in…
The changes of main paradigms on the structure and evolution of the Universe are reviewed. Two puzzles of the modern cosmology, the mean density of matter and the regularity of the Universe on large scales, as well as the possibility to…
First, this paper broaches the definition of science and the epistemic yield of tenets and approaches: phenomenological (descriptive only), well-founded (solid first principles, conducive to deep understanding), provisional (falsifiable if…
Recently, inhomogeneous generalisations of the Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker cosmological models have gained interest in the astrophysical community and are more often employed to study cosmological phenomena. However, in many papers…
The dramatic confrontation between new observations and theories of the early and recent universe makes cosmology one of the most rapidly advancing fields in the physical sciences. The universe is a unique laboratory in which to probe…
We have fossil evidence from the thermal background radiation that our universe expanded from a considerably hotter denser state. We have a well defined and testable description of the expansion, the relativistic Friedmann-Lemaitre model.…
During the last three decades, there has been a growing realization among physicists and cosmologists that the relation between particle physics and cosmology may constitute yet another successful example of the unity of science. However,…
If we look from a quantum perspective, the most natural way in which the universe can be created is in entangled pairs whose time flow is oppositely related. This suggests the idea of the creation of a universe-antiuniverse pair. Assuming…
Complex systems throughout Nature display structures and functions that are built and maintained, at least in part, by optimal energies flowing through them--not specific, ideal values, rather ranges in energy rate density below which…
Understanding the behavior of the universe at large depends critically on insights about the smallest units of matter and their fundamental interactions. Inflationary cosmology is a highly successful framework for exploring these…
The complex (composite) systems such as the Universe allow the different decompositions into subsystems. The Everett's Many Times Interpretation (MWI) heavily relies on the occurrence of decohernce that should provide the classical reality…
In the simplest cosmological models consistent with General Relativity, the total volume of the Universe is either finite or infinite, depending on whether or not the spatial curvature is positive. Current data suggest that the curvature is…
Quantum cosmology in general denotes the application of quantum physics to the whole universe and thus gives rise to many realizations and examples, covering problems at different mathematical and conceptual levels. It is related to quantum…