Related papers: Cosmology, Time's Arrow, and That Old Double Stand…
It is conjectured that M-theory in asymptotically flat spacetime must be supersymmetric, and that the observed SUSY breaking in the low energy world must be attributed to the existence of a nonzero cosmological constant. This would be…
We present here the transformations required to recast the Robertson-Walker metric and Friedmann-Robertson-Walker equations in terms of observer-dependent coordinates for several commonly assumed cosmologies. The overriding motivation is…
A model quantum cosmology is used to illustrate how arrows of time emerge in a universe governed by a time-neutral dynamical theory constrained by time asymmetric initial and final boundary conditions represented by initial and final…
Observational Cosmology has indeed made very rapid progress in the past decade. The ability to quantify the universe has largely improved due to observational constraints coming from structure formation Measurements of CMB anisotropy and,…
Recollapsing homogeneous and isotropic models present one of the key ingredients for cyclic scenarios. This is considered here within a quantum cosmological framework in presence of a free scalar field with, in turn, a negative cosmological…
There has been, quite recently, a discussion on how holographic-inspired bounds might be used to encompass the present-day dark energy and early-universe inflation into a single paradigm. In the current treatment, we point out an…
The standard big bang cosmology has been greatly successful in explaining many observational aspects of the real universe. However, two particular diffficulties faced by it are the so-called ``horizon'' and ``flatness'' problems. By…
The observational fact that the present values of the densities of dark energy and dark matter are of the same order of magnitude, $\rho_{de0}/\rho_{dm0} \sim \mathcal{O}(1)$, seems to indicate that we are currently living in a very special…
The standard cosmological model successfully describes many observations from widely different epochs of the Universe, from primordial nucleosynthesis to the accelerating expansion of the present day. However, as the basic cosmological…
Cosmological data suggest that we live in an interesting period in the history of the universe when \rho_\Lambda \sim \rho_M \sim \rho_R. The occurence of any epoch with such a "triple coincidence" is puzzling, while the question of why we…
Many extensions of the Standard Model predict large numbers of additional unstable particles whose decays in the early universe are tightly constrained by observational data. For example, the decays of such particles can alter the ratios of…
Does inflation provide a compelling explanation for why the universe is so large, so flat, and so old, and a predictive theory of density perturbations? In this brief contribution (based on the role of the author as moderator of the…
We analyze cosmology assuming unitary quantum mechanics, using a tripartite partition into system, observer and environment degrees of freedom. This generalizes the second law of thermodynamics to "The system's entropy can't decrease unless…
Cosmological fine-tuning has traditionally been associated with the narrowness of the intervals in which the parameters of the physical models must be located to make life possible. A more thorough approach focuses on the probability of the…
A new interpretation of quantum mechanics, similar to the Copenhagen interpretation, is developed from time-symmetry arguments and commonly held principles concerning time and causality. These principles, which are grounded in ideas outside…
After commenting briefly on the role of the typicality assumption in science, we advocate a phenomenological approach to the cosmological measure problem. Like any other theory, a measure should be simple, general, well-defined, and…
In this article we study a hypothetical possibility of tracking the evolution of our Universe by introducing a series of the so-called standard timers. Any unstable primordial relics generated in the very early Universe may serve as the…
In cosmology one labels the time t since the Big Bang in terms of the redshift of light emitted at t, as we see it now. In this Note we derive a formula that relates t to z which is valid for all redshifts. One can go back in time as far as…
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…
We review the cosmological evidence for a low matter density universe and a cosmological constant or dynamical vacuum energy and address the cosmolog$ coincidence problem: why is the matter density about one-half the vacuum energy {\em…