Related papers: Pre-Big-Bang Inflation Requires Fine Tuning
Quantum gravitational back-reaction offers the potential of simultaneously resolving the problem of the cosmological constant and providing a natural model of inflation in which scalars play no special role. In this model inflation begins…
I report recent studies on the evolution of perturbations in the context of the ``pre-big-bang" scenario typical of string cosmology, with emphasis on the formation of a stochastic background of relic photons and gravitons, and its possible…
The Big Bang singularity in standard model cosmology suggests a program of study in 'early universe' quantum gravity phenomenology. Inflation is usually thought to undermine this program's prospects by means of a dynamical diluting…
The leading candidate for the very early universe is described by a period of rapid expansion known as inflation. While the standard paradigm invokes a single slow-rolling field, many different models may be constructed which fit the…
In pre-big-bang string cosmology one uses a phase of dilaton-driven inflation to stretch an initial (microscopic) spatial patch to the (much larger) size of the big-bang fireball. We show that the dilaton-driven inflationary phase does not…
Inflation arises in supersymmetric grand unified theories (susy GUTs) without fine tuning and cosmic strings usually form at the end of inflation. Hence both strings and inflation contribute to the density perturbations in the very early…
We study primordial perturbations from hyperinflation, proposed recently and based on a hyperbolic field-space. In the previous work, it was shown that the field-space angular momentum supported by the negative curvature modifies the…
Numerical relativity simulations provide a means by which to study the evolution and end point of strong over-densities in cosmological spacetimes. Specific applications include studies of primordial black hole formation and the robustness…
We perform a general analysis of the cosmological viability of Geometric Inflation. We show that the evolution of the universe, from inflation to the present day, can be seen from the addition of an infinite tower of curvature invariants…
One of the great triumphs of the inflationary model is the prediction of the flat power spectrum of the CMB fluctuation. The prediction is based on the assumption of the de-Sitter vacuum in the past infinity. However, the true past infinity…
We consider the description of cosmological dynamics from the onset of inflation by a perfect fluid whose parameters must be consistent with the strength of the enhanced quantum loop effects that can arise during inflation. The source of…
Motivated by the string landscape we examine scenarios for which inflation is a two-step process, with a comparatively short inflationary epoch near the string scale and a longer period at a much lower energy (like the TeV scale). We…
Observations of the cosmic microwave sky are revealing the primordial non-uniformities from which all structure in the Universe grew. The only known physical mechanism for generating the inhomogeneities we see involves the amplification of…
We obtain cosmological constraints on models of inflation which exhibit rapid roll solutions. Rapid roll attractors exist for potentials with large mass terms and are thus of interest for inflationary model building within string theory. We…
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…
Cosmological inflation, if it occurred, radically alters the picture of the `big bang', which would merely point to reheating at the end of inflation. Moreover, this reheating may be only local, so that inflation continues elsewhere and…
Superstring theory, models with extra dimensions and other SUSY models generically predict that the coupling constants are in fact vacuum expectation values of fields like the dilaton, moduli etc. Assuming some of these fields are light…
In this paper we study possible observational consequences of the bouncing cosmology. We consider a model where a phase of inflation is preceded by a cosmic bounce. While we consider in this paper only that the bounce is due to loop quantum…
A mechanism of inflation from higher dimensions compactification is studied. An Early Universe capable of providing exponential growth for some dimensions and exponential contraction for others, giving therefore an explanation for the big…
The cosmological curvature perturbation may be generated when some `curvaton' field, different from the inflaton, oscillates in a background of unperturbed radiation. In its simplest form the curvaton paradigm requires the Hubble parameter…