Related papers: Towards a Stringy Resolution of the Cosmological S…
In a universe whose elementary constituents are point particles there does not seem to be any obvious mechanism for avoiding the initial singularities in physical quantities in the standard model of cosmology. In contrast in string theory…
We review recent progress in string cosmology, where string dualities are applied so as to obtain complete cosmological evolutions, free of any essential singularities. Two classes of models are analyzed. The first class consists of string…
The heterotic string theory, compactified to four dimensions, has been conjectured to have a duality symmetry (S duality) that transforms the dilaton nonlinearly. If valid, this symmetry could provide an important means of obtaining…
Non-relativistic conformally invariant systems in a rotating cosmic string (conical) spacetime are analyzed at the classical and quantum levels by means of the gravitoelectromagnetic interpretation of the background. Solutions of the…
The existence of de-Sitter solutions and their stability within string theory became, in recent years, one of the central research questions within the string theory community. The so-called de-Sitter conjecture states that the de-Sitter…
We discuss two classes of exact (in $\a'$) string solutions described by conformal sigma models. They can be viewed as two possibilities of constructing a conformal model out of the non-conformal one based on the metric of a $D$-dimensional…
The dynamics of the early universe may have been profoundly influenced by spatial anisotropies. A search for such backgrounds in the context of string cosmology has uncovered the existence of an entire class of (spatatially) homogeneous but…
String theory contains sources like orientifold planes that support higher derivative interactions. These interactions make possible static flux compactifications which are forbidden in supergravity. They can also lead to violations of the…
Cosmic strings, as topological spacetime defects, show striking resemblance to defects in solid continua: distortions, which can be classified into disclinations and dislocations, are line-like defects characterized by a delta…
A discrete symmetry of the four-dimensional string effective action is employed to derive spatially homogeneous and inhomogeneous string cosmologies from vacuum solutions of general relativity that admit two commuting spacelike Killing…
A string field theory(SFT) nonlocal model of the cosmological dark energy providing w<-1 is briefly surveyed. We summarize recent developments and open problems, as well as point out some theoretical issues related with others applications…
I discuss cosmological models either derived from, or inspired by, string theory or M-theory. In particular I discuss solutions in the low-energy effective theory and the role of the dilaton, moduli and antisymmetric form fields in the…
The weakly-coupled heterotic string is known to have problems of dilaton/moduli stabilization, supersymmetry breaking (by hidden-sector gaugino condensation), gauge coupling unification (or the Newton's constant), QCD axion, as well as…
It has been shown that 5-dimensional general relativity action extended by appropriate quadratic terms admits a singular superconducting cosmic string solution. We search for cosmic strings endowed with similar and extended physical…
We consider possible resolutions of singularities in a contracting anisotropic universe for a class of higher derivative gravity theories. We give evidence that for our models the big crunch singularity may be replaced by a nearly flat…
A weak version of the cosmic censorship hypothesis is implemented as a set of boundary conditions on exact semi-classical solutions of two-dimensional dilaton gravity. These boundary conditions reflect low-energy matter from the strong…
In the first part of this talk, I consider some exact string solutions in curved spacetimes. In curved spacetimes with a Killing vector (timelike or spacelike), the string equations of motion and constraints are reduced to the Hamilton…
We briefly review the status of the ``graceful exit'' problem in superstring cosmology and present a possible resolution. It is shown that there exists a solution to this problem in two-dimensional dilaton gravity provided quantum…
We study some aspects of classical & quantum cosmology in the context of two-dimensionsal dilaton gravity theories with matter being described by a perfect fluid. We derive the classical equations obeyed by the metric function & the dilaton…
We show that a class of 3+1 dimensional Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies can be embedded within a variety of solutions of string theory. In some realizations the apparent singularities associated with the big bang or big crunch are…