Related papers: Inflation from Superstring/M Theory Compactificati…
We consider models of inflection point inflation. The main drawback of such models is that they suffer from the overshoot problem. Namely the initial condition should be fine tuned to be near the inflection point for the universe to…
Synopsis: (i) how superstring theories are unified by M-theory; (ii) how superstring and supermembrane properties follow from the D=10 and D=11 supersymmetry algebras; (iii) how D=10 and D=11 supergravity theories determine the strong…
We discuss the possible applications of string theory for the construction of generalizations of the $SU(3)\times SU(2)\times U(1)$ standard model of strong and electroweak interactions. This includes an investigation of effective $d=4$…
In these lecture notes, an introduction to superstring theory is presented. Classical strings, covariant and light-cone quantization, supersymmetric strings, anomaly cancelation, compactification, T-duality, supersymmetry breaking, and…
We investigate a new way of realizing a period of cosmological inflation in the context of brane gas cosmology. It is argued that a gas of co-dimension one branes, out of thermal equilibrium with the rest of the matter, has an equation of…
In this opening talk I first describe how we are entering a data-rich era, and what clues we might soon have to physics beyond the SM (on a time scale of several years). Then we turn to a number of the basic issues we hope to explain, and…
The most important criteria for a successful inflation are to explain the observed temperature anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background radiation, and exiting inflation in a vacuum where it can excite the Standard Model quarks and…
We conduct a systematic search for a viable string/M-theory cosmology, focusing on cosmologies that include an era of slow-roll inflation, after which the moduli are stabilized and the Universe is in a state with an acceptably small…
We show that a large class of supersymmetric solutions to the low-energy effective field theory of heterotic string theory compactified on a seven torus can have finite energy, which we compute. The mechanism by which these solutions are…
The early universe according to the big bang and the grand unified theories is discussed. The shortcomings of big bang are summarized together with their resolution by inflationary cosmology. Inflation, the subsequent oscillation and decay…
We analyze the core dynamics of critically coupled, superheavy gauge vortices in the (2+1) dimensional Einstein-Abelian-Higgs system. By numerically solving the Eistein and field equations for various values of the symmetry breaking scale,…
We present a general framework where the effective field theory of single field inflation is extended by the inclusion of operators with mass dimension 3 and 4 in the unitary gauge. These higher dimensional operators introduce quartic and…
Inflationary cosmology has provided a predictive and phenomenologically very successful scenario for early universe cosmology. Attempts to implement inflation using scalar fields, however, lead to models with serious conceptual problems. I…
We study the effects of the interaction terms between the inflaton fields on the inflationary dynamics in multi-field models. With power law type potential and interactions, the total number of e-folds may get considerably reduced and can…
We present a simple two-field model of inflation and show how to embed it in string theory as a straightforward generalization of axion monodromy models. Phenomenologically, the predictions are equivalent to those of chaotic inflation, and…
The inflation model of Gaillard, Lyth and Murayama is revisited, with a systematic scan of the parameter space for dilaton stabilization during inflation.
We propose a new, generic mechanism of inflation mediated by a balance between potential forces and a Chern-Simons interaction. Such quasi-topological interactions are ubiquitous in string theory. In the minisuperspace approximation, their…
Power-law inflation has stood as a classical model in inflationary cosmology since the early 1980s, prized for its exact analytical solutions and ability to naturally resolve the Big Bang theory's horizon and flatness problems through…
Motivated by examples that appeared in the context of string theory - gauge theory duality, we consider corrections to supergravity backgrounds induced by higher derivative R^4+... terms in superstring effective action. We argue that…
Higher-derivative terms in the string and M-theory effective actions are strongly constrained by supersymmetry. Using a mixture of techniques, involving both string amplitude calculations and an analysis of supersymmetry requirements, we…