Related papers: Topological defects and open inflation
We investigate the formation of primordial black holes in curvaton models of inflation, where the curvature perturbation is not only generated by the inflaton but also by a light scalar field (the curvaton) that decays after inflation.…
In standard inflationary cosmology, scalar and tensor perturbations grew as the Universe expanded and froze when their wavelengths exceeded the Hubble horizon, producing a tell-tale signature in the fluctuation spectrum and amplitude of the…
We study phase transitions induced by topological defects in Abelian gauge theories of open p-branes in (d+1) space-time dimensions. Starting from a massive antisymmetric tensor theory for open p-branes we show how the condensation of…
We analyze the evolution of the perturbations in the inflaton field and metric following the end of inflation. We present accurate analytic approximations for the perturbations, showing that the coherent oscillations of the…
The pre-big-bang cosmology inspired by superstring theories has been suggested as an alternative to slow-roll inflation. We analyze, in both the Jordan and Einstein frames, the effect of spatial curvature on this scenario and show that too…
The most important criteria for a successful inflation are to explain the observed temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation, and exiting inflation in a vacuum where it can excite the Standard Model quarks and…
The spectrum of cosmological perturbations in the context of the one-bubble open inflation model is discussed, taking into account fluctuations of the metric. We find that, quite generically,thin wall single field models have no…
The bubbles that nucleated during slow-roll inflation can be supercritical, i.e. their radii are larger than the Hubble horizon of de Sitter spacetime inside the bubble (an inflating baby universe inside it), and thus naturally develop to…
The Universe may pass through an effectively matter-dominated epoch between inflation and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis during which gravitationally bound structures can form on subhorizon scales. In particular, the inflaton field can collapse…
Vacuum bubbles may nucleate during the inflationary epoch and expand, reaching relativistic speeds. After inflation ends, the bubbles are quickly slowed down, transferring their momentum to a shock wave that propagates outwards in the…
The formation of primordial black holes is studied using superconformal inflationary $\alpha$-attractors. An inflaton potential is constructed with a plateau-like region which brings about the onset of an ultra slow-roll region where the…
In these lectures, I review cosmological phase transitions and the topological aspects of spontaneous symmetry breaking. I then discuss the formation of walls, strings and monopoles during phase transitions including lattice based studies…
We study the metric perturbations produced during inflation in models with two scalar fields evolving simultaneously. In particular, we emphasize how the large-scale curvature perturbation $\zeta$ on fixed energy density hypersurfaces may…
Using the techniques of out-of-equilibrium field theory, we study the influence on the properties of cosmological perturbations generated during inflation on observable scales coming from fluctuations corresponding today to scales much…
The possibility to detect cosmic strings -- topological defects of early Universe, by means of wave effects in gravitational lensing is discussed. To find the optimal observation conditions, we define the hyperbolic-shaped Fresnel…
We show that a moduli space of the form predicted by string theory, lifted by supersymmetry breaking, gives rise to successful inflation for large regions of parameter space without any modification or fine tuning. This natural realization…
We show how conformal field theory topological defects can relate solutions of open string field theory for different boundary conditions. To this end we generalize the results of Graham and Watts to include the action of defects on…
We show that it is possible to combine an early phase of String Gas Cosmology which can explain the origin of the observed structures on cosmological scales with a short later period of power law inflation which creates spatial flatness.…
Probing correlations among short and long-wavelength cosmological fluctuations is known to be decisive for deepening the current understanding of inflation at the microphysical level. Spectral distortions of the CMB can be caused by…
Topological defects are singularities in material fields that play a vital role across a range of systems: from cosmic microwave background polarization to superconductors, and biological materials. Although topological defects and their…