Related papers: Are Small Hyperbolic Universes Observationally Det…
This work is related to different questions within cosmology. The principal idea herein is to develop cosmological knowledge making use of the analyses of observational data in order to find the values of the matter density Omega_m and…
Geometry of the universe has always intrigued mathematicians and cosmologists. Recent results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Project (WMAP) indicate that the visible universe is incredibly flat. This apparent flatness could be due…
Cosmology has come a long way from being based on a small number of observations to being a data-driven precision science. We discuss the questions "What is observable?", "What in the Universe is knowable?" and "What are the fundamental…
The question of determining the spatial geometry of the Universe is of greater relevance than ever, as precision cosmology promises to verify inflationary predictions about the curvature of the Universe. We revisit the question of what can…
With the era of precision cosmology upon us, and upcoming surveys expected to further improve the precision of our observations below the percent level, ensuring the accuracy of our theoretical cosmological model is of the utmost…
We review recent work and present new examples about the character of singularities in globally and regularly hyperbolic, isotropic universes. These include recent singular relativistic models, tachyonic and phantom universes as well as…
The world view suggested by quantum cosmology is that inflating universes with all possible values of the fundamental constants are spontaneously created out of nothing. I explore the consequences of the assumption that we are a `typical'…
We argue that standard tools of holography can be used to describe fully non-perturbative microscopic models of cosmology in which a period of accelerated expansion may result from the positive potential energy of time-dependent scalar…
We find that a uniform scaling of the gravitational free-fall rates and photon-electron scattering rate leaves most dimensionless cosmological observables nearly invariant. This result opens up a new approach to reconciling cosmic microwave…
Cosmological Voids are among the largest structures known in the universe with diameters ranging from 20 Mpc to 80 Mpc. In this paper I present a short review of the observational evidence and models so far proposed and a brief discussion…
Recent evidence indicates that the Universe is open, i.e., spatially hyperbolic, longstanding theoretical preferences to the contrary notwithstanding. This makes it possible to select a vacuum state, Fock space, and particle definition for…
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…
We assess the effects of a collision between two vacuum bubbles in the thin-wall limit. After describing the outcome of a generic collision possessing the expected hyperbolic symmetry, we focus on collisions experienced by a bubble…
Motivated by the question of how generic inflation is, I study the time-evolution of topological surfaces in an inhomogeneous cosmology with positive cosmological constant $\Lambda$. If matter fields satisfy the Weak Energy Condition,…
The assumption of a flat Universe that follows the cosmological principle, i.e., that the universe is statistically homogeneous and isotropic at large scales, comprises one of the core foundations of the standard cosmological model --…
Even when completely and consistently formulated, a fundamental theory of physics and cosmological boundary conditions may not give unambiguous and unique predictions for the universe we observe; indeed inflation, string/M theory, and…
The hypothesis is discussed that our universe is really 5--dimensional with a nonzero cosmological constant that produces a large negative curvature. In this scenario, the observable flat 4--dimensional universe is identified with the…
There has been significant recent progress in observational cosmology. This, in turn, has provided an unprecedented picture of the early universe and its evolution. In this review I will present a (biased) view of how one can use these…
Cosmology is undergoing an explosive period of activity, fueled both by new, accurate astrophysical data and by innovative theoretical developments. Cosmological parameters such as the total density of the Universe and the rate of…
Multi-connected Universe models with space idenfication scales smaller than the size of the observable universe produce topological images in the catalogs of cosmic sources. In this review, we present the recent developments for the search…