Related papers: String Cosmology: An Update
Universe history in $R^2$-gravity is studied from "beginning" up to the present epoch. It is assumed that initially the curvature scalar $R$ was sufficiently large to induce the proper duration of inflation. Gravitational particle…
We consider new cosmological solutions with a collapsing, an intermediate and an expanding phase. The boundary between the expanding (collapsing) phase and the intermediate phase is seen by comoving observers as a cosmological past (future)…
An introductory account is given of the inflationary cosmology, which postulates a period of accelerated expansion during the Universe's earliest stages. The historical motivation is briefly outlined, and the modelling of the inflationary…
We consider the evolution of scalar perturbations in a class of non-singular bouncing universes obtained with higher-order corrections to the low-energy bosonic string action. We show that previous studies have relied on a singular…
I discuss cosmological models either derived from, or inspired by, string theory or M-theory. In particular I discuss solutions in the low-energy effective theory and the role of the dilaton, moduli and antisymmetric form fields in the…
The present paradigm in cosmology is the usual Big-Bang Cosmology in which two stages of accelerated expansion are incorporated: the inflationary phase in the very early universe which produces the classical inhomogeneities observed in the…
In the context of the pre-Big Bang scenario of string cosmology, we propose a modified equation for the evolution of the tensor perturbations, which includes the full contribution of possible higher-order curvature and coupling corrections…
The topic of cosmic strings provides a bridge between the physics of the very small and the very large. They are predicted by some unified theories of particle interactions. If they exist, they may help to explain some of the largest-scale…
In this paper, we present a new scenario of the early Universe that contains a pre big bang Ekpyrotic phase. By combining this with a ghost condensate, the theory explicitly violates the null energy condition without developing any…
Recent observations of Type Ia supernovae provide evidence for the acceleration of our universe, which leads to the possibility that the universe is entering an inflationary epoch. We simulate it under a ``big bounce'' model, which contains…
The cosmic string theory for cosmological fluctuations is a good example of healthy scientific progress in cosmology. It is a well defined physically motivated model that has been tested by cosmological observations and has been ruled out…
After 25 years of its existence, inflationary theory gradually becomes the standard cosmological paradigm. However, we still do not know which of the many versions of inflationary cosmology will be favored by the future observational data.…
Inflationary cosmology has become one of the cornerstones of modern cosmology. Inflation was the first theory within which it was possible to make predictions about the structure of the Universe on large scales, based on causal physics. The…
If string theory controls physics at the string scale, the dynamics of the early universe before the GUT era will be governed by the low-energy string equations of motion. Studying these equations for FRW spacetimes, we find that depending…
String cosmology models predict a cosmic background of gravitational waves produced during a period of dilaton-driven inflation. I describe the background, present astrophysical and cosmological bounds on it, and discuss in some detail how…
The theory of cosmological perturbations is the main tool which connects theories of the early universe (based on new fundamental physics such as string theory) with cosmological observations. In these lectures, I will provide an…
The cosmological model best capable of fitting current observational data features two separate epochs during which the Universe is accelerating. During the earliest stages of the Universe, such acceleration is known as cosmological…
Aspects of string cosmology for critical and non-critical strings are discussed emphasizing the necessity to account for the dilaton dynamics for a proper incorporation of ``large - small" duality. This drastically modifies the intuition…
Generating appropriate initial conditions for the Universe is key to discussing cosmic evolution constructively. In standard cosmology the traditional approach assumes an early Universe that emerges from an infinite density, spacetime…
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…