Related papers: S-duality Invariant Perturbations in String Cosmol…
In the context of the field theory limit of superstrings, we consider an almost realistic model of supersymmetry breaking by gaugino condensation which includes, through nonperturbative corrections to the K\"ahler potential, dilaton…
We review the theory and phenomenology of effective supergravity theories based on orbifold compactifications of the weakly-coupled heterotic string. In particular, we consider theories in which the four-dimensional theory displays target…
We consider the dynamics of a contracting universe ruled by two minimally coupled scalar fields with general exponential potentials. This model describes string-inspired scenarios in the Einstein frame. Both background and perturbations can…
Scale factor duality, a truncated form of time dependent T-duality, is a symmetry of string effective action in cosmological backgrounds interchanging small and large scale factors. The symmetry suggests a cosmological scenario…
We derive and solve the full set of scalar perturbation equations for a class of $Z_2$-symmetric five-dimensional geometries generated by a bulk cosmological constant and by a 3-brane non-minimally coupled to a bulk dilaton field. The…
We study the minimal requirements to obtain axion strings for axions with exponentially good quality. These ingredients appear in theories where an axion coming from a higher-form gauge field mixes with the phase of a complex scalar field…
We study the generation of cosmological perturbations during the Hagedorn phase of string gas cosmology. Using tools of string thermodynamics we provide indications that it may be possible to obtain a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of…
The scalar modes of the geometry induced by dimensional decoupling are investigated. In the context of the low energy string effective action, solutions can be found where the spatial part of the background geometry is the direct product of…
In an alternative mechanism recently proposed, adiabatic cosmological perturbations are generated at the decay of the inflaton field due to small fluctuations of its coupling to matter. This happens whenever the coupling is governed by the…
Using the dilaton scalar and axion pseudoscalar fields we construct a number of scalars and differential forms which are symmetric under the $\mathbf{Z}_2$-subgroup of the group $SL(2, \mathbf{R})$. These invariants enable us to establish…
We study cosmologies based on low-energy effective string theory with higher-order string corrections to a tree-level action and with a modulus scalar field (dilaton or compactification modulus). In the presence of such corrections it is…
An inhomogeneous version of pre--Big Bang cosmology emerges, within string theory, from quite generic initial conditions, provided they lie deeply inside the weak-coupling, low-curvature regime. Large-scale homogeneity, flatness, and…
We propose novel structure formation scenarios based on a non-singular higher curvature cosmological model. The model is motivated by the $R^2$ coupling of a scalar field appearing in the string theory, and in our scenarios the universe has…
Low energy string theory predicts the existence of an axion field which can lead to cosmic birefringence. We solve the electromagnetic wave equations in the presence of such an axion and a dilaton field in order to determine their effect on…
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…
Some of the phenomenological implications of string cosmological models are reviewed, with particular attention to the spectra of the tensor, scalar and vector modes of the geometry. A class of self-dual string cosmological models is…
We study scalar field theories that break diffeomorphism invariance down to the subgroup of transverse diffeomorphisms through the matter sector in cosmological backgrounds. We focus on single- and multi-field models and develop the…
A new method for obtaining dual string theory backgrounds is presented. Preservation of the Hamiltonian density and the energy momentum tensor induced by O(d,d)-transformations leads to a relation between dual sets of coordinate one-forms…
We review recent progress in string cosmology, where string dualities are applied so as to obtain complete cosmological evolutions, free of any essential singularities. Two classes of models are analyzed. The first class consists of string…
We construct a multi-field inflationary model consisting of multiple K\"ahler moduli derived from type IIB string compactification in the large volume limit. The model consists of both heavy and light fields, with the former being frozen…