Related papers: Cosmological Inflation and the Nature of Time
Recent advances in observational cosmology are changing the way we view the nature of time. In general relativity, the freedom in choosing a time hypersurface has hampered the implementation of the theory. Fortunately, Hamilton-Jacobi…
The nature of cosmic time is illuminated using Hamilton-Jacobi theory for general relativity. For problems of interest to cosmology, one may solve for the phase of the wavefunctional by using a line integral in superspace. Each contour of…
Hamilton-Jacobi theory provides a natural starting point for a covariant description of the gravitational field. Using a spatial gradient expansion, one may solve for the phase of the wavefunction by using a line-integral in superspace.…
Using Hamilton-Jacobi theory, we develop a formalism for solving semi-classical cosmological perturbations which does not require an explicit choice of time-hypersurface. The Hamilton-Jacobi equation for gravity interacting with matter…
Hamilton-Jacobi theory provides a natural starting point for a covariant description of the gravitational field. Using a spatial gradient expansion, one may solve for the phase of the wavefunction by using a line-integral in superspace.…
Cosmological inflation provides the simplest and most promising mechanism for generating fluctuations for structure formation. Using powerful Hamilton-Jacobi methods, I will describe (1) how to compute density fluctuations and cosmic…
In this article we review the theory of cosmological inflation with a particular focus on the beautiful connection it provides between the physics of the very small and observations of the very large. We explain how quantum mechanical…
Cosmic inflation provides a window to the highest energy densities accessible in nature, far beyond those achievable in any realistic terrestrial experiment. Theoretical insights into the inflationary era and its observational probes may…
Possibly, the most general action in the background of isotropic and homogeneous space-time has been considered to study the quantum evolution of the early universe, apart from a cosmological constant. The hermiticity of the effective…
Inflation is a bold and expansive extension of the Standard Cosmology. It holds the promise to extend our understanding of the Universe to within 10^{-32}sec of the big bang and answer most of the pressing questions in cosmology. Its…
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 main aim of this paper is to provide a qualitative introduction to the cosmic inflation and its relationship with current cosmological observations. The inflationary model solves many of the fundamental problems that challenge the…
The slow-roll inflation paradigm can be systematically generalized within the framework of non-standard entropy formalisms, giving rise to a broad class of inflationary models that deviate from the conventional Bekenstein--Hawking case. We…
The standard model of cosmology is based on the hot Big Bang theory and the inflationary paradigm. Recent precise observations of the temperature and polarization anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background and the matter distribution…
In a previous paper we proposed a new approach to the beginning of inflation -- a lingering universe. The universe begins in a lingering state with a nearly vanishing Hubble parameter. This calls into question the absolute age of the…
This article gives a brief overview of some of the theory behind the inflationary cosmology, and discusses prospects for constraining inflation using observations. Particular care is given to the question of falsifiability of inflation or…
An epoch of accelerated expansion, or inflation, in the early universe solves several cosmological problems. While there are many models of inflation only recently has it become possible to discriminate between some of the models using…
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…
The status of quantum cosmologies as testable models of the early universe is assessed in the context of inflation. While traditional Wheeler-DeWitt quantization is unable to produce sizable effects in the cosmic microwave background, the…
In the scenario of single-field inflation, this field is done in terms of Jacobian elliptic functions. This approach provides, when constrained to particular cases, analytic solutions already known in the past, generalizing them to a bigger…