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We present a brief review of recent advances in string cosmology. Starting with the Dilaton-Moduli Cosmology (known also as the Pre Big Bang), we go on to include the effects of axion fields and address the thorny issue of the Graceful Exit…
We review various aspects of de Sitter spacetime in string theory: its status as an effective field theory spacetime solution, its relation to the vacuum energy problem in string theory, its (global) holographic definition in terms of two…
In a universe whose elementary constituents are point particles there does not seem to be any obvious mechanism for avoiding the initial singularities in physical quantities in the standard model of cosmology. In contrast in string theory…
It is shown that Born-Infeld gravity --a high energy deformation of Einstein gravity-- removes the singularities of a cosmic string. The respective vacuum solution results to be free of conical singularity and closed timelike curves. The…
We present a class of graviton-dilaton models in which a homogeneous isotropic universe, such as our observed one, evolves with no singularity at any time. Such models may stand on their own as interesting models for singularity free…
Dimensional reduction of generalized gravity theories or string theories generically yields dilaton fields in the lower-dimensional effective theory. Thus at the level of D=4 theories, and cosmology many models contain more than just one…
We consider linear cosmological perturbations on the background of a D-brane gas in which the compact dimensions and the dilaton are stabilized. We focus on long wavelength fluctuations and find that there are no instabilities. In…
On the basis of exact solutions to the Einstein-Abelian gauge-dilaton equations in $D$-dimensional gravity, the properties of static axial configurations are discussed. Solutions free of curvature singularities are selected; they can be…
The quantum cosmology of two-dimensional dilaton-gravity models is investigated. A class of models is mapped onto the constrained oscillator-ghost-oscillator model. A number of exact and approximate solutions to the corresponding…
A wide class of dilatation symmetric effective actions in higher dimensions leads to a vanishing four-dimensional cosmological constant. This requires no tuning of parameters and results from the absence of an allowed potential for the…
We examine the field equations of a self-gravitating texture in low-energy superstring gravity, allowing for an arbitrary coupling of the texture field to the dilaton. Both massive and massless dilatons are considered. For the massless…
We examine the effect of perturbative string loops on the cosmological pre-big-bang evolution. We study loop corrections derived from heterotic string theory compactified on a $Z_N$ orbifold and we consider the effect of the all-order loop…
Using the renormalization-group formalism, a sigma model of a special type- in which the metric and the dilaton depend explicitly on one of the string coordinates only-is investigated near two dimensions. It is seen that dilatonic gravity…
We investigate spherically symmetric solutions in string theory. Such solutions depend on three parameters, one of which corresponds to the asymptotic mass while the other two are the dilaton and two-form field amplitudes, respectively. If…
We examine the two-dimensional spacetimes that emerge from string theory. We find all the solutions with no tachyons, and show that the only non-trivial solution is the black hole spacetime. We examine the role of duality in this picture.…
Within the first order formalism static solutions of generic dilaton gravity in 2D with self-interacting (scalar) matter can be discussed with ease. The question of (non)existence of Killing horizons is addressed and the interplay with…
Making use of the T-duality symmetry of superstring theory, and of the double geometry from Double Field Theory, we argue that cosmological singularities of a homogeneous and isotropic universe disappear. In fact, an apparent big bang…
We show that, in the presence of a string gas, simple higher-derivative modifications to the effective action for gravity can lead to bouncing and cyclic cosmological models. The modifications bound the expansion rate and avoid…
A large class of solvable models of dilaton gravity in two space-time dimensions, capable of describing black hole geometry, are analyzed in a unified way as non-linear sigma models possessing a special symmetry. This symmetry, which can be…
String gas cosmology is rewritten in the Einstein frame. In an effective theory in which a gas of closed strings is coupled to a dilaton gravity background without any potential for the dilaton, the Hagedorn phase which is quasi-static in…