Challenges for Early Universe Cosmology - 2011

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We will describe how a quantum mechanical description of a flat FRW with equation of state pressure =energy density, emerges.

The eternal inflation scenario predicts that our observable universe resides inside a single bubble embedded in a vast inflating multiverse. Collisions between bubble universes imprinted in the CMB sky provide a powerful observational test of this idea. I will describe a robust algorithm for non…

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In this talk, I will describe how the collision of Minkowski or crunching bubbles can re-start inflation in a portion of the bubble interior. Consistent with various singularity theorems, such collisions can only seed a lasting inflationary phase with energy density lower than that of the parent…

If the universe is a quantum mechanical system it has a quantum state. This state supplies a probabilistic measure for alternative histories of the universe. During eternal inflation these histories typically develop large inhomogeneities that lead to a mosaic structure on superhorizon scales…

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In its best understood version, the Steinhardt-Turok cyclic universe contains two crucial ingredients: an unstable field trajectory during the ekpyrotic phase, and the subsequent brane collision corresponding to the crunch/bang transition. These two features act as strong selection principles and…