Related papers: Quantum Fluctuations in Open Pre-Big Bang Cosmolog…
It has been argued that the small perturbations to the homogeneous and isotropic configurations of a canonical scalar field in an expanding universe do not grow. We show that this is not true in general, and clarify the root of the…
Quantum diffusion describes the inflow of vacuum quantum fluctuations as they get amplified by gravitational instability, and stretched to large distances during inflation. In this picture, the dynamics of the universe's expansion becomes…
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 study incomplete relaxation to quantum equilibrium at long wavelengths, during a pre-inflationary phase, as a possible explanation for the reported large-scale anomalies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our scenario makes use of…
Quantum creation of Universes with compact spacelike sections that have curvature $k$ either closed, flat or open, i.e. $k=\pm1,0$ are studied. In the flat and open cases, the superpotential of the Wheeler De Witt equation is significantly…
Perhaps standard effective field theory arguments are right, and vacuum fluctuations really do generate a huge cosmological constant. I show that if one does not assume homogeneity and an arrow of time at the Planck scale, a very large…
In a previous work we have exhibited a clear description of the quantum-to-classical transition of cosmological quantum fluctuations in the inflationary scenario using the de Broglie-Bohm quantum theory. These fluctuations are believed to…
In this note we show that vector perturbations exhibit growing mode solutions in a contracting Universe, such as the contracting phase of the Pre Big Bang or the Cyclic/Ekpyrotic models of the Universe. This is not a gauge artifact and will…
We discuss the interaction between perturbations in the inflaton and the background during the preheating phase in simple inflationary models. By numerically solving the Einstein field equations we are able to assess the impact of…
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…
According to the inflationary scenario of cosmology, all structure in the Universe can be traced back to primordial fluctuations during an accelerated (inflationary) phase of the very early Universe. A conceptual problem arises due to the…
We define fully non-perturbative generalizations of the uniform density and comoving curvature perturbations, which are known, in the linear theory, to be conserved on sufficiently large scales for adiabatic perturbations. Our non-linear…
In some versions of the theory of inflation, it is assumed that before inflation began the universe was in a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) stage, with the energy density dominated by massless particles. The origin of the nearly…
We present a complete set of exact and fully non-linear equations describing all three types of cosmological perturbations -- scalar, vector and tensor perturbations. We derive the equations in a thoroughly gauge-ready manner, so that any…
Loop quantum cosmology predicts that quantum gravity effects resolve the big-bang singularity and replace it by a cosmic bounce. Furthermore, loop quantum cosmology can also modify the form of primordial cosmological perturbations, for…
We consider the nonequilibrium evolution of an O(N)-symmetric scalar quantum field theory using a systematic two-particle irreducible 1/N-expansion to next-to-leading order, which includes scattering and memory effects. The corresponding…
Cosmological equations for homogeneous isotropic models filled by scalar fields and ultrarelativistic matter are investigated in the framework of gauge theories of gravity. Regular inflationary cosmological models of flat, closed and open…
WMAP and Planck open the way to unprecedented Big Bang phenomenology, potentially allowing to test the standard Big Bang model as well as less conventional approaches including noncyclic pre-Big Bang cosmologies that would incorporate a new…
We investigate the convergence behaviors of the scalar and the vector perturbations for a big bounce phase in loop quantum cosmology. Two models are discussed: one is the universe filled by a massless scalar field; the other is a toy model…
We present an alternative scenario for cosmic structure formation where initial fluctuations are due to Kalb-Ramond axions produced during a pre-big bang phase of inflation. We investigate whether this scenario, where the fluctuations are…