Related papers: Axions and the Graceful Exit Problem in String Cos…
We study cosmological dynamics of the cuscuta-galileon gravity with a potential term by using the dynamical system approach. This model is galileon generalization of the cuscuton gravity where we add a potential term to the theory in order…
We study an extension of the natural inflation model comprising a non-Abelian gauge sector coupled to the axion-inflaton kinetic term. We show how such non-minimal coupling serves as a source of friction for the rolling inflaton granting…
Applying a novel non-perturbative functional method framework to a two-dimensional bosonic sigma model with tachyon, dilaton and graviton backgrounds we construct exact (non perturbative in the Regge slope) inflationary solutions,…
We follow the evolution of the curvaton on superhorizon scales and check that the spectral tilt of the curvaton perturbations is unchanged as the curvaton becomes non-relativistic. Both inflation and pre-big bang cosmology can be treated…
It is known that Yang-Mills theories, especially in the large-$N$ limit, exhibit a $\theta$-vacuum structure with a multi-branched vacuum energy. In this work, we demonstrate that this multi-branch structure can play a crucial role in axion…
In string theory, the traditional picture of a Universe that emerges from the inflation of a very small and highly curved space-time patch is a possibility, not a necessity: quite different initial conditions are possible, and not…
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 recent years different explanations are provided for both an inflation and a recent acceleration in the expansion of the universe. In this Letter we show that a model of physical interest is the modification of general relativity with a…
Axions are produced during a period of dilaton-driven inflation by amplification of quantum fluctuations. We show that for some range of string cosmology parameters and some range of axion masses, primordial axions may constitute a large…
The current cosmological bound on the invisible axion scale may be avoided in the class of theories in which the gauge coupling constant is determined through the expectation value of some scalar field (e.g. moduli in supergravity and…
We implement the scenario of early relaxation of the axion via a high scale confinement within $SU(5)$ grand unified theory and study an epoch of strong QCD in inflationary cosmology. We consider scenarios in which, during inflation, the…
We analyse numerically the onset of pre-big bang inflation in an inhomogeneous, spherically symmetric Universe. Adding a small dilatonic perturbation to a trivial (Milne) background, we find that suitable regions of space undergo…
Current cosmological models require the universe to be in a very smooth initial state before the onset of inflation, a situation to which Penrose ascribes a vanishingly small probability, leading to his proposal of a Conformal Cyclic…
The duality-type symmetries of string cosmology naturally lead to a pre-big-bang phase of accelerated evolution as dual counterpart of the decelerated expansion of standard cosmology. We discuss several properties of this scenario,…
We study spatially homogeneous and isotropic solutions to the equations of motion derived from dilaton gravity, in the presence of a special combination of higher derivative terms in the gravitational action. All solutions are nonsingular.…
This note is a summary of the work reported in hep-th/9801073. We give a brief discussion of the fine tuning problem in pre-big bang cosmology. We use the flatness problem as our test case, and in addition to the exact numerical limits on…
We discuss the existence of de Sitter inflationary solutions for the string-inspired fourth-derivative gravity theories with dilaton field. We consider a space-time of arbitrary dimension D and an arbitrary parametrization of the target…
We examine the effect of spatial curvature in the pre-big-bang inflationary model suggested by string theory. We study $O(\alpha ')$ corrections and we show that, independently of the initial curvature, they lead to a phase of exponential…
The string $\alpha^\prime$-correction to the usual Einstein action comprises a Gauss-Bonnet integrand multiplied by non-trivial functions of the modulus field $\chi$ and/or the dilaton field $\phi$. We discuss how the presence of such terms…
We discuss inflation models within supersymmetry and supergravity frameworks with a landscape of chiral superfields and one $U(1)$ shift symmetry which is broken by non-perturbative symmetry breaking terms in the superpotential. We label…