Related papers: A Solution to the Horizon Problem: A Delayed Big-B…
The Hamilton-Jacobi equation for the string cosmology is solved using the gradient expansion method. The zeroth order solution is taken to be the standard pre-big bang model and the second order solution is found for the dilaton and the…
The cosmological constant problem is the principal obstacle in the attempt to interpret dark energy as the quantum vacuum energy. We suggest that the obstacle can be removed, i.e. that the cosmological constant problem can be resolved by…
We show that standard puzzles of hot Big Bang cosmology that motivated the introduction of cosmological inflation, such as the smoothness and horizon problem, the flatness problem and the relic problem are also solved by holographic models…
The standard cosmological model, based on general relativity with an inflationary era, is very effective in accounting for a broad range of observed features of the universe. However, the ongoing puzzles about the nature of dark matter and…
The Universe, far to be homogenous, expands in large empty bubbles of the large-scale structure, but not in mass concentrations like galaxies, so that the Robertson-Walker solution does not fit. We suggest that a symmetry breaking occurred…
To ask a question about a black hole in quantum gravity, one must restrict initial or boundary data to ensure that a black hole is actually present. For two-dimensional dilaton gravity, and probably a much wider class of theories as well,…
The late time acceleration of the Universe has challenged contemporary cosmology since its discovery. General Relativity explains this phenomenon by introducing the cosmological constant, named the standard cosmological model…
If our observable Universe is only a tiny region of a vastly larger and conformally older spacetime, then the usual formulations of the classical flatness and horizon problems of the Hot Big Bang can be reinterpreted as artifacts…
The conventional background solution for the evolution of a single canonical inflaton field performs admirably in extreme scenarios such as the slow-roll phase (where the slow-roll parameter is much less than one) and the deep reheating era…
The dynamics of an inhomogeneous universe is studied with the methods of Loop Quantum Cosmology as an example of the quantization of vacuum cosmological spacetimes containing gravitational waves (Gowdy spacetimes). The analysis performed at…
The ekpyrotic and cyclic universe scenarios have revived the idea that the density perturbations apparent in today's universe could have been generated in a `pre-singularity' epoch before the big bang. These scenarios provide explicit…
Faced by recent evidence for a flat universe dominated by dark energy, cosmologists grapple with deep cosmic enigmas such as the cosmological constant problem, extreme fine-tuning and the cosmic coincidence problem. The extent to which we…
In recent analyses of standard, single-universe, cosmology, it was pointed out that specific assumptions regarding the distribution and motion of matter must be made in order to set up the cosmological standard model with a global time…
Alternative scenarios to the Big Bang singularity have been subject of intense research for several decades by now. Most popular in this sense have been frameworks were such singularity is replaced by a bounce around some minimal…
Combining intervals of ekpyrotic (ultra-slow) contraction with a (non-singular) classical bounce naturally leads to a novel cyclic theory of the universe in which the Hubble parameter, energy density and temperature oscillate periodically,…
We study how the initial inhomogeneities of the spatial curvature affect the onset of inflation in the closed universe. We consider a cosmological model which contains a radiation and a cosmological constant. In order to treat the…
The particle and event horizons are widely known and studied concepts, but the study of their properties, in particular their evolution, have only been done so far considering a single state equation in a decelerating universe. This paper…
We elaborate on the recently proposed static brane world scenario, where the effective 4-D cosmological constant is exponentially small when parallel 3-branes are far apart. We extend this result to a compactified model with two positive…
Anomaly-free perturbations of loop quantum cosmology reveal a deformed space-time structure, in which the signature changes when the energy density is $\rho=\rho_c/2$. Furthermore, in loop quantum cosmology, one can obtain an effective…
Measurements of CMB anisotropy and, more recently, polarization have played a very important role allowing precise determination of various parameters of the `standard' cosmological model. The expectation of the paradigm of inflation and…