Related papers: New Ekpyrotic Cosmology
The interplay between string theory and early-universe cosmology offers promising avenues to explore high-energy regimes where the standard single-field slow-roll model may no longer provide an accurate description. One intriguing scenario…
We respond to the criticisms by Kallosh, Kofman and Linde concerning our proposal of the ekpyrotic universe scenario. We point out a number of errors in their considerations and argue that, at this stage, the ekpyrotic model is a possible…
We calculate the density and gravitational wave spectrums generated in a version of string cosmology termed pre-big bang scenario. The large scale structures are originated from quantum fluctuations of the metric and dilaton field during a…
We study the role of non-perturbative quantum gravity effects in the Ekpyrotic/Cyclic model using the effective framework of loop quantum cosmology in the presence of anisotropies. We show that quantum geometric modifications to the…
A bouncing cosmology with an initial matter-dominated phase of contraction during which scales which are currently probed with cosmological observations exit the Hubble radius provides a mechanism alternative to inflation for producing a…
Observations indicate that the universe is effectively flat, but they do not rule out a closed universe. The role of positive curvature is negligible at late times, but can be crucial in the early universe. In particular, positive curvature…
We develop a non-singular bouncing cosmology using a non-trivial coupling of general relativity to fermionic fields. The usual Big Bang singularity is avoided thanks to a negative energy density contribution from the fermions. Our theory is…
Inflationary cosmology with a preceding nonsingular bounce can lead to changes on the primordial density fluctuations. One significant prediction is that the amplitude of the power spectrum may undergo a jump at a critical scale. In this…
Emergent cosmological models, together with the Big Bang and bouncing scenarios, are among the possible descriptions of the early Universe. This work aims at clarifying some general features of the primordial tensor power spectrum in this…
In order to bypass the big bang singularity, we develop an emergent universe scenario within a covariant extension of General Relativity known as \emph{"Energy-Momentum Squared Gravity"}. The extra terms of the model emerge in the high…
Loop quantum cosmology provides a nice solution of avoiding the big bang singularity through a big bounce mechanism in the high energy region. In loop quantum cosmology an inflationary universe is emergent after the big bounce, no matter…
The inflationary scenario has become the paradigm of early universe cosmology, and - in conjuction with ideas from superstring theory - has led to speculations about an "inflationary multiverse". From a point of view of phenomenology, the…
We study a contracting universe composed of cold dark matter and radiation, and with a positive cosmological constant. As is well known from standard cosmological perturbation theory, under the assumption of initial quantum vacuum…
The ekpyrotic phase (a slow contraction cosmic phase before the current expansion phase) manages to solve the main problems of the standard cosmology by means of a scalar field interpreted as a cosmic fluid in the Friedmann equation.…
One of the central points of the ekpyrotic cosmological scenario based on Horava-Witten theory is that we live on a negative tension brane. However, the tension of the visible brane is positive in the usual HW phenomenology with stronger…
A period of slow contraction with equation of state w > 1, known as an ekpyrotic phase, has been shown to flatten and smooth the universe if it begins the phase with small perturbations. In this paper, we explore how robust and powerful the…
We investigate the bounce realization in the framework of DHOST cosmology, focusing on the relation with observables. We perform a detailed analysis of the scalar and tensor perturbations during the Ekpyrotic contraction phase, the bounce…
The observed value of the Higgs mass indicates an instability of the Higgs scalar at large energy scales, and hence also at large field values. In the context of early universe cosmology, this is often considered to lead to problems. Here…
Inflation has been the leading early universe scenario for two decades, and has become an accepted element of the successful `cosmic concordance' model. However, there are many puzzling features of the resulting theory. It requires both…
An oscillating universe cycles through a series of expansions and contractions. We propose a model in which ``phantom'' energy with $p < -\rho$ grows rapidly and dominates the late-time expanding phase. The universe's energy density is so…