Related papers: Pre-Big-Bang in String Cosmology
Generic cosmological models in non-critical string theory have a time-dependent dilaton background at a late epoch. The cosmological deceleration parameter Q_0 is given by the square of the string coupling, g_s^2, up to a negative sign.…
A brief review of the status of duality symmetries in string theory is presented. The evidence is accumulating rapidly that an enormous group of duality symmetries, including perturbative T dualities and non-perturbative S-dualities,…
Cosmic strings are important remnants of early-Universe phase transitions. We show that they can be probed by Gravitational Waves (GWs) from compact binary mergers. If such chirping GW passes by a cosmic string, it is gravitationally lensed…
In the inflationary scenarios suggested by string theory, the vacuum fluctuations of the electromagnetic field can be amplified by the time-evolution of the dilaton background, and can grow large enough to explain both the origin of the…
We reformulate in Hamiltonian language the recent proposal by Hohm and Zwiebach of an action yielding the most general $O(d,d)$-symmetric string cosmology equations, at tree-level in the string-loop expansion, but to all orders in the…
Cosmic strings are predicted in various extensions of the Standard Model, including grand unified theories. Depending on the symmetry-breaking pattern, they can be either topologically stable or metastable. Intriguingly, metastable strings…
It is possible that superstrings, as well as other one-dimensional branes, could have been produced in the early universe and then expanded to cosmic size today. I discuss the conditions under which this will occur, and the signatures of…
Cosmic (super)strings offer promising ways to test ideas about the early universe and physics at high energies. While in field theory constructions their tension is usually assumed to be constant (or at most slowly-varying), this is often…
At its very beginning, the universe is believed to have grown exponentially in size via the mechanism of inflation. The almost scale-invariant density perturbation spectrum predicted by inflation is strongly supported by cosmological…
We argue that cosmic strings with high winding numbers generally form in first-order gauge symmetry breaking phase transitions, and we demonstrate this using computer simulations. These strings are heavier than single-winding strings and…
Following a suggestion by Gasperini and Veneziano, that String Cosmology can be reconciled with Inflation and, hence, with the Standard Big Bang, we display an analytical solution which possesses four interesting properties: (1) it is…
I will briefly review the formation and evolution of cosmic superstrings, in the context of brane-world cosmological models within M-theory. These objects can play the role of cosmic strings, offering a variety of astrophysical…
Despite impressive phenomenological successes, cosmological models are incomplete without an understanding of what happened at the big bang singularity. Depending on the model, one would like to understand how appropriate initial conditions…
We consider the cosmological amplification of a metric perturbation propagating in a higher-dimensional Brans-Dicke background, including a non trivial dilaton evolution. We discuss the properties of the spectral energy density of the…
String theory counterparts to Einstein's gravity, cosmology and inflation are described. A very tight upper bound on the Cosmic Gravitational Radiation Background (CGRB) of standard inflation is shown to be evaded in string cosmology, while…
We investigate cosmic strings arising from a hierarchical gauge symmetry breaking sequence, $\mathrm{SU}(2) \times \mathrm{U}(1) \rightarrow \mathrm{U}(1) \times \mathrm{U}(1) \rightarrow \mathrm{U}(1)' \rightarrow \text{Nothing}$. This…
We consider the coupled evolution of density, (scalar) metric and dilaton perturbations in the transition from a ``stringy" phase of growing curvature and gravitational coupling to the standard radiation-dominated cosmology. We show that…
In this review, a number of approaches to superstring cosmology which make use of key features which distinguish string theory from point particle theories are discussed, with particular emphasis on emergent scenarios. One motivation for…
The purpose of this review is to discuss recent developments occurring at the interface of cosmology with string and M-theory. We begin with a short review of 1980s string cosmology and the Brandenberger-Vafa mechanism for explaining…
String gas cosmology is a string theory-based approach to early universe cosmology which is based on making use of robust features of string theory such as the existence of new states and new symmetries. A first goal of string gas cosmology…