Related papers: Causality in Inflationary Universes with Positive …
We propose a class of scalar models that, once coupled to gravity, lead to cosmologies that smoothly and stably connect an inflationary quasi-de Sitter universe to a low, or even zero-curvature, maximally symmetric spacetime in the…
We analyze constraints on parameters characterizing the pre-inflating universe in an open inflation model with a present slightly open $\Lambda$CDM universe. We employ an analytic model to show that for a broad class of inflation-generating…
A massive scalar field in a curved spacetime can propagate along the light cone, a causal pathology, which can, in principle, be eliminated only if the scalar couples conformally to the Ricci curvature of spacetime. This property mandates…
We investigate the circumstances under which cosmic inflation can arise from very inhomogeneous initial conditions using numerical relativity simulations. Previous studies have not considered cases with non-zero momentum density due to…
We perform a semi-classical analysis of the Emergent Universe scenario for inflation. Fixing the background, and taking the inflaton to be homogenous, we cast the inflaton's evolution as a one-dimensional quantum mechanics problem. We find…
We investigate the recent suggestions by Barausse et al. (astro-ph/0501152) and Kolb et al. (hep-th/0503117) that the acceleration of the universe could be explained by large superhorizon fluctuations generated by inflation. We show that no…
We analyse the evolution of primordial magnetic fields in spatially flat Friedmann universes and reconsider the belief that, after inflation, these fields decay adiabatically on all scales. Without~abandoning classical electromagnetism or…
In most current models of inflation based on a weakly self-coupled scalar matter field minimally coupled to gravity, the period of inflation lasts so long that, at the beginning of the inflationary period, the physical wavelengths of…
It was argued that the Raychaudhuri equation with a quantum correction term seems to avoid the Big Bang singularity and to characterize an everlasting Universe [PLB741,276(2015)]. Critical comments on both conclusions and on the correctness…
We study $F(R)$ modified gravity models which are capable of driving the accelerating epoch of the Universe at the present time whilst not destroying the standard Big Bang and inflationary cosmology. Recent studies have shown that a weak…
We discuss the entropy and the size/homogeneity/horizon problems in power-law expanding universes with one scale initial conditions. We set the minimal scale $\Lambda = 10^{25}$ GeV at which a non-inflationary solution is possible and show…
We analyze a quantized toy model of a universe undergoing eternal inflation using a quantum-field-theoretical formulation of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. This so-called third quantization method leads to the picture that the eternally…
Penrose [1] has emphasized how the initial big bang singularity requires a special low entropy state. We address how recent brane cosmological schemes address this problem and whether they offer any apparent resolution. Pushing the start…
Conformal embedding of closed-universe models in a de Sitter background suggests a quantisation condition on the available conformal time. This condition implies that the universe is closed at no greater than the 10% level. When a massive…
Inflationary cosmology proposes that the early Universe undergoes accelerated expansion, driven, in simple scenarios, by a single scalar field, or inflaton. The form of the inflaton potential determines the initial spectra of density…
We present first results from a novel numerical relativity code based on a tetrad formulation of the Einstein-scalar field equations combined with recently introduced gauge/frame invariant diagnostics indicating that inflation does not…
In some versions of the theory of inflation, it is assumed that before inflation began the universe was in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) stage, with the energy density dominated by massless particles. The origin of the nearly…
We consider a polymer quantization of a free massless scalar field in a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological spacetime. This quantization method assumes that field translations are fundamentally discrete, and is related to but distinct…
We prove that a homogeneous and isotropic universe containing a scalar field with a power-law potential, $V(\phi )=A\phi ^{n}$, with $0<n<1$ and $A>0$ always develops a finite-time singularity at which the Hubble rate and its first…
In an induced-gravity model, the stability condition of an inflationary slow-rollover solution is shown to be $\phi_0 \partial_{\phi_0}V(\phi_0)=4V(\phi_0)$. The presence of higher derivative terms will, however, act against the stability…