Related papers: Patch dualities and remarks on nonstandard cosmolo…
Phantom cosmology allows to account for dynamics and matter content of the universe tracing back the evolution to the inflationary epoch, considering the transition to the non-phantom standard cosmology (radiation/matter dominated eras) and…
Models with extra dimensions have attracted much interest recently because they may provide the solution for long standing problems in physics. One interesting and very attractive idea is that our visible universe is confined to a…
Recently, a topological field theory of membrane-matter coupled to BF theory in arbitrary spacetime dimensions was proposed [1]. In this paper, we discuss various aspects of the four-dimensional theory. Firstly, we study classical solutions…
We analyze solutions to Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies in Brans-Dicke theory, where a scalar field is coupled to gravity. Matter is modelled by a $\gamma$-law perfect fluid, including false-vacuum energy as a special case. Through a…
Finite-density QCD and many other field theories with sign problems have a $\mathcal{PT}$-type symmetry. After a brief introduction to $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric field theories, a real dual representation for $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric scalar…
We review exceptional field theories as the duality-covariant reformulation of maximal supergravity theories in ten and eleven dimensions, that make the underlying exceptional symmetries explicit. Beyond their structural role in unifying…
Ekpyrotic bouncing cosmologies have been proposed as alternatives to inflation. In these scenarios, the universe is smoothed and flattened during a period of slow contraction preceding the bounce while quantum fluctuations generate nearly…
An alternative way of explaining astrophysical observations without dark matter is proposed. In the braneworld scenario, where our universe is visualised as a 4-dimensional hypersurface embedded in a higher dimensional spacetime, the…
A detailed comparative qualitative analysis and numerical simulation of evolution of the cosmological models based on the doublet of classical and phantom scalar fields with self-action. The 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional projections of…
We consider a physically viable cosmological model that has a field dependent Gauss-Bonnet coupling in its effective action, in addition to a standard scalar field potential. The presence of such terms in the four dimensional effective…
We present an analysis of the phase space of cosmological models based on a non minimal coupling between the geometry and a fermionic condensate. We obtain that the strong constraint coming from the Dirac equations allows a detailed design…
We study supersymmetry breaking perturbations of the simplest dual pair of 2+1-dimensional N = 2 supersymmetric field theories -- the free chiral multiplet and N = 2 super-QED with a single flavor. We find dual descriptions of a phase…
Motivated by the mathematic theory of split-complex numbers (or hyperbolic numbers, also perplex numbers) and the split-quaternion numbers (or coquaternion numbers), we define the notion of split-complex scalar field and the…
This is an introduction to the ekpyrotic scenario, with an emphasis on the two contexts of brane cosmology and primordial universe scenarios. A self-contained introduction to brane cosmology and a qualitative overview and comparison of the…
We investigate asymptotic symmetries in flat backgrounds of dimension higher than or equal to four. For spin two we provide the counterpart of the extended BMS transformations found by Campiglia and Laddha in four-dimensional Minkowski…
For a 4-dimensional spatially-flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with a scalar field $\phi(x)$, potential $V(\phi)$ and constant equation of state $w=p/\rho$, we show that an expanding solution characterized by $\epsilon=3(1+w)/2$…
We investigate aspects of cosmology in brane world theories with a bulk scalar field. We concentrate on a recent model motivated from supergravity in singular spaces. After discussing the background evolution of such a brane-world, we…
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…
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 pre--big bang cosmological scenario is studied within the context of the Brans--Dicke theory of gravity. An epoch of superinflationary expansion may occur in the pre--big bang phase of the Universe's history in a certain region of…