PIRSA:11060003

Inflation, infinity, equilibrium and the observable Universe

Albrecht, A. (2011). Inflation, infinity, equilibrium and the observable Universe. Perimeter Institute. https://pirsa.org/11060003

Albrecht, Andreas. Inflation, infinity, equilibrium and the observable Universe. Perimeter Institute, Jun. 15, 2011, https://pirsa.org/11060003 

          @misc{ pirsa_PIRSA:11060003,
            doi = {10.48660/11060003},
            url = {https://pirsa.org/11060003},
            author = {Albrecht, Andreas},
            keywords = {Cosmology},
            language = {en},
            title = {Inflation, infinity, equilibrium and the observable Universe},
            publisher = {Perimeter Institute},
            year = {2011},
            month = {jun},
            note = {PIRSA:11060003 see, \url{https://pirsa.org}}
          }

Andreas Albrecht University of California, Davis

Talk numberPIRSA:11060003
DOI10.48660/11060003
Collection
Talk Type Scientific Series
Subject

Abstract

Cosmic inflation has given us a remarkably successful cosmological phenomenology. But the original goal of explaining why the cosmos is *likely* to take the form we observe has proven very difficult to realize. I review the status of "eternal inflation" with an eye on the roles various infinities have (both helpful and unhelpful) in our current understanding. I then discuss attempts to construct an alternative cosmological framework that is truly finite, using ideas about equilibrium and dark energy. I report some recent results that point to observable signatures.