Related papers: Accelerating Cosmologies and Inflation from M/Supe…
We show that a moduli space of the form predicted by string theory, lifted by supersymmetry breaking, gives rise to successful inflation for large regions of parameter space without any modification or fine tuning. This natural realization…
In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may…
The three-year data from WMAP are in stunning agreement with the simplest possible quadratic potential for chaotic inflation, as well as with new or symmetry-breaking inflation. We investigate the possibilities for incorporating these…
The hypothesis that the Universe underwent a period of exponential expansion at very early times has become the most popular theory of the early Universe. Not only does it solve some of the problems of standard big bang cosmology, but it…
Solitonic brane cosmologies are found where the world-volume is curved due to the evolution of the dilaton field on the brane. In many cases, these may be related to the solitonic Dp- and M5-branes of string and M-theory. An…
The inflationary paradigm, although very successful phenomenologically, suffers from several conceptual problems which motivate the search for alternative scenarios of early universe cosmology. Here, two possible alternatives will be…
We study the possibility of obtaining inflationary solutions from S-dual superstring potentials. We find, in particular, that such solutions occur at the core of domain walls separating degenerate minima whose positions differ by modular…
We consider the compactification of (d+n)-dimensional pure gravity and of superstring/M-theory on an n-dimensional internal space to a d-dimensional FLRW cosmology, with spatial curvature k=-1,0,+1, in Einstein conformal frame. The internal…
An alternative scenario about the phenomenology of primordial Universe is k-inflation. According to this concept, inflation can be achieved by nonstandard kinetic term of scalar field, namely the inflaton. In this project we focus on…
We review a series of developments concerning non-linear realizations of supersymmetry coupled to supergravity, with emphasis on some applications to inflationary Cosmology.
We propose an inflationary scenario, M-flation, in which inflation is driven by three $N\times N$ hermitian matrices $\Phi_i, i=1,2,3$. The inflation potential of our model, which is strongly motivated from string theory, is constructed…
Within supersymmetry we provide an example where the inflaton sector is derived from a gauge invariant polynomial of SU(N) or SO(N) gauge theory. Inflation in our model is driven by multi-flat directions, which assist accelerated expansion.…
Inflationary cosmology is developed in the second Randall-Sundrum braneworld scenario, where the accelerated expansion arises through potentials that are too steep to drive inflation in conventional cosmology. A relationship between the…
We consider whether current notions about superstring theory below the Planck scale are compatible with cosmology. We find that the anticipated form for the dilaton interaction creates a serious roadblock for inflation and makes it unlikely…
We calculate power spectra of cosmological perturbations at high accuracy for two classes of inflation models. We classify the models according to the behaviour of the Hubble distance during inflation. Our approximation works if the Hubble…
I present a brief review of astro-ph/0406099, which argues that there is a limit on the number of efolds of inflation which are observable in a universe which undergoes an eternally accelerated expansion in the future. Such an acceleration…
We investigate inflation driven by $N$ dynamical five-branes in Heterotic M-theory using the scalar potential derived from the open membrane instanton sector. At leading order the resulting theory can be mapped to power law inflation,…
The pressureless tachyonic matter recently found in superstring field theory has an over-abundance problem in cosmology. We argue that this problem is naturally solved in the brane inflationary scenario if almost all of the tachyon energy…
We study inflationary potentials in the framework of superstring theories. Successful inflation may occur due to chiral fields, but only after the dilaton and moduli are stabilized. This is achieved by demanding an S-duality invariant…
These lectures provide an updated pedagogical treatment of the theoretical structure and phenomenology of some basic mechanisms for inflation, along with an overview of the structure of cosmological uplifts of holographic duality. A full…