Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental Physics - 2010

TBA

TBA

TBA

TBA

We discuss holographic models for the inflationary epoch. We show how cosmological observables such as the primordial spectrum and non-Gaussianities can be computed via computations of correlation functions of a dual three dimensional QFT (without gravity!) We present a general class of models that…

TBA

I'll discuss some work done in collaboration with Cliff Burgess, Louis Leblond and Sarah Shandera on the significance of the IR divergences in de Sitter space. First, I'll talk about how large fluctuations at long distances can induce the failure of the loop expansion for interacting field theories…

Magnetic fields are ubiquitous in our Universe. The are observed in galaxies and clusters in our vicinity and at high redshifts. In my talk I outline the possibilities to generate magnetic fields in the early Universe during inflation or during a first order phase transition. I explain the form of…

I will describe recent work by Cutler&Holz and Hirata, Holz, & Cutler showing that a highly sensitive, deci-Hz gravitational-wave mission like BBO or Decigo could measure cosmological parameters, such as the Hubble constant H_0 and the dark energy parameters w_0 and w_a, far more accurately than…

It has been suggested, by Kallosh and Linde, that a generic bound on inflation in string theory keeps the Hubble scale of inflation $H$ smaller than the gravitino mass, $m_{3/2}$. Given that models with low-energy supersymmetry have $m_{3/2}$ smaller than a TeV, this is a severe constraint, and…

I will discuss a recent proposal to regulate the infinities of eternal inflation by relating a late-time cutoff in the bulk to a short-distance cutoff on the conformal boundary of the spacetime.

TBA