Related papers: CMB and density fluctuations from strings plus inf…
In string theory, the traditional picture of a Universe that emerges from the inflation of a very small and highly curved space-time patch is a possibility, not a necessity: quite different initial conditions are possible, and not…
We perform a multiparameter likelihood analysis to compare measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectra with predictions from models involving cosmic strings. Adding strings to the standard case of a primordial…
We construct a string-inspired nonsingular cosmological scenario in which an inflaton field is driven up the potential before the graceful exit by employing a low-energy string effective action with an orbifold compactification. This sets…
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…
In the context of SUSY GUTs, GUT scale cosmic strings formed at the end of hybrid inflation are compatible with currently available CMB measurements. The maximum allowed cosmic strings contribution to the CMB data constrains the free…
Among the inflationary models based on string theory, the D3/D7 model has the advantage that the flatness of the inflaton potential can be protected even with moduli stabilization. However, the Abrikosov-Nielsen-Olesen BPS cosmic strings…
A class of well-motivated models of inflation end by producing cosmic strings. The current status of efforts to calculate and observe the signals from such models are outlined, with a particular emphasis on cosmic strings, and on the 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…
For suitable cosmological backgrounds, thermal fluctuations of a gas of strings can generate a scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological fluctuations without requiring a phase of inflationary expansion. We highlight the key points of this…
Generic features of models of inflation obtained from string compactifications are the correlations between the model parameters and the postinflationary evolution of the universe. Thus, the postinflationary evolution depends on the…
Brane inflation is a specific realization of the inflationary universe scenario in the early universe within the brane world framework in string theory. The naturalness and robustness of this realistic scenario is explained. Its predictions…
A simple model of uniformly expanding, homogeneous Universe with a bulk viscosity is studied wherein the inflationary density decays due to viscous dissipation during the expansion phase of the Universe. The model is shown to generate the…
Recent Planck measurements show some CMB anomalies on large angular scales, which confirms the early observations by WMAP. We show that an inflationary model, in which before the slow-roll inflation the Universe is in a superinflationary…
We probe the cosmological consequences of a recently proposed class of solutions to the cosmological constant problem. In these models, the universe undergoes a long period of inflation followed by a contraction and a bounce that sets the…
In a recent paper, we suggested that the density fluctuation spectra arising from power-law (or extended) inflation, which are tilted with respect to the Harrison--Zel'dovich spectrum, may provide an explanation for the excess large scale…
Inflation creates large-scale cosmological density perturbations that are characterized by an isotropic, homogeneous, and Gaussian random distribution about a locally flat background. Even in a flat universe, the spatial curvature measured…
We demonstrate that string motivated inflation ending via tachyonic instability leaves a detectable imprint on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation by virtue of the excitation of non-Gaussian gravitational fluctuations. The…
Following the 2015 Planck release, we briefly comment on the status and some ongoing opportunities in the interface between inflationary cosmology, string theory, and CMB data. The constraints in the $r$-$n_s$ plane introduce a new…
We compute the power spectra in the cosmic microwave background and cold dark matter (CDM) fluctuations seeded by strings, using the largest string simulations performed so far to evaluate the two-point functions of their stress energy…
We investigate the effects of non-zero spatial curvature on cosmic inflation in the light of cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy measurements from the Planck 2018 legacy release and from the 2015 observing season of BICEP2 and the…