Related papers: A Solution to the Graceful Exit Problem in Pre-Big…
We complement the low-energy gravi-dilaton effective action of string theory with a non-local, general-covariant dilaton potential, and obtain homogeneous solutions describing a non-singular (bouncing-curvature) cosmology. We then compute,…
We write an O(d,d)-covariant Wheeler-De Witt equation in the ($d^2+1$)-dimensional minisuperspace of low-energy cosmological string backgrounds. We discuss explicit examples of transitions between two duality-related cosmological phases,…
We consider solutions of the cosmological equations pertaining to a dissipative, dilaton-driven off-equilibrium Liouville Cosmological model, which may describe the effective field theoretic limit of a non-critical string model of the…
`Old' String Theory is a theory of one-dimensional extended objects, whose vibrations correspond to excitations of various target-space field modes including gravity. In these lectures I will give an introduction to low-energy Effective…
The allowed mass windows for a cosmic background of relic dilatons are estimated in the context of the pre-big bang scenario. The dilatons are produced from the quantum fluctuations of the vacuum, and the extension of the windows is…
We review physical motivations, phenomenological consequences, and open problems of the so-called pre-big bang scenario in superstring cosmology.
An inhomogeneous version of pre--Big Bang cosmology emerges, within string theory, from quite generic initial conditions, provided they lie deeply inside the weak-coupling, low-curvature regime. Large-scale homogeneity, flatness, and…
We present analytic cosmological solutions in a model of two-dimensional dilaton gravity with back reaction. One of these solutions exhibits a graceful exit from the inflationary to the FRW phase and is nonsingular everywhere. A duality…
The beautiful scenario of pre-big-bang cosmology is appealling not only because it is more or less derived from string theory, but also because it separates clearly the problem of the initial conditions for the universe from that of high…
We study nonsingular cosmological scenarios in a general $D$-dimensional string effective action of the dilaton-modulus-axion system in the presence of the matter source. In the standard dilatonic Brans-Dicke parameter ($\omega=-1$) with…
String cosmology aims at providing a reliable description of the very early Universe in the regime where standard-model physics is no longer appropriate, and where we can safely apply the basic ingredients of superstring models such as…
We present a short introduction to a non-standard cosmological scenario motivated by the duality symmetries of string theory, in which the big bang singularity is replaced with a "big bounce" at high but finite curvature. The bouncing epoch…
We study the evolution of fluctuations in a universe dominated by a scalar field coupled to the Gauss-Bonnet term. During the graceful exit, we found non-negligible enhancements of both curvature perturbation and gravitational wave in the…
We have investigated the cosmological scenarios with a four dimensional effective action which is connected with multidimensional, supergravity and string theories. The solution for the scale factor is such that initially universe undergoes…
In dilaton gravity theories, we consider a string-like topological defect formed during U(1) gauge symmetry-breaking phase transition in the early Universe, and far from the cosmic string we have vacuum solutions of the generalized Einstein…
In pre-big-bang string cosmology one uses a phase of dilaton-driven inflation to stretch an initial (microscopic) spatial patch to the (much larger) size of the big-bang fireball. We show that the dilaton-driven inflationary phase does not…
This note is a summary of the work reported in hep-th/9801073. We give a brief discussion of the fine tuning problem in pre-big bang cosmology. We use the flatness problem as our test case, and in addition to the exact numerical limits on…
The pre-big-bang cosmology inspired by superstring theories has been suggested as an alternative to slow-roll inflation. We analyze, in both the Jordan and Einstein frames, the effect of spatial curvature on this scenario and show that too…
We explore a dark energy model with a ghost scalar field in the context of the runaway dilaton scenario in low-energy effective string theory. We address the problem of vacuum stability by implementing higher-order derivative terms and show…
We present a short review of possible applications of the Wheeler-De Witt equation to cosmological models based on the low-energy string effective action, and characterised by an initial regime of asymptotically flat, low energy, weak…