Brane-world cosmology and inflation

There has been substantial progress in brane-world cosmology in recent years. Much attention has been particularly paid to the second Randall-Sundrum (RS2) scenario in which a single positive-tension brane is embedded in a five-dimensional space-time, called the bulk, with a negative cosmological constant. This brane-world scenario is quite attractive because of the non-trivial geometry in the bulk and because it successfully gives four-dimensional general relativity in the low energy limit. After reviewing basic features of the RS2 scenario, we consider a brane-world inflation model driven by the dynamics of a scalar field living in the five-dimensional bulk, the so-called bulk inflaton model. An intriguing feature of this model is that the projection of the bulk inflaton on the brane behaves just like an ordinary inflaton in four dimensions in the low energy regime,H ² l ² « 1, whereH is the Hubble expansion rate of the brane andl is the curvature radius of the bulk. We then discuss the cosmological perturbation on superhorizon scales in this model. We find that, even under the presence of spatial inhomogeneities, the model is indistinguishable from the standard four-dimensional inflation toO(H ² l ²). That is, the difference may appear only atO(H ¹⁴ l ⁴).     

Summary of cosmology workshop

Cosmology is passing through a golden phase of rapid advance. The cosmology workshop at ICGC-2004 attracted a large number of research contributions to diverse topics of cosmology. I attempt to classify and summarize the research work and results of the oral and poster presentations made at the meeting.     

Double inflation and the low CMB quadrupole

Recent released WMAP data show a low value of quadrupole in the CMB temperature fluctuations, which confirms the early observations by COBE. In this Letter we consider a model of two inflatons with different masses, , m₁>m₂ and study its effects on CMB of suppressing the primordial power spectrum P(k) at small k. Inflation is driven in this model firstly by the heavier inflaton φ₁, then the lighter field φ₂. But there is no interruption in between. We numerically calculate the scalar and tensor power spectra with mode by mode integrations, then fit the model to WMAP temperature correlations TT and the TE temperature-polarization spectra. Our results show that with m₁10¹⁴ GeV and m₂10¹³ GeV, this model solves the problems of flatness, etc. and the CMB quadrupole predicted can be much lower than the standard power-law ΛCDM model.     

Hybrid natural low scale inflation

We discuss the phenomenological implications of Hybrid Natural Inflation models in which the inflaton is a pseudo-Goldstone boson but inflation is terminated by a second scalar field. A feature of the scheme is that the scale of breaking of the Goldstone symmetry can be lower than the Planck scale and so gravitational corrections are under control. We show that, for supersymmetric models, the scale of inflation can be chosen anywhere between the Lyth upper bound and a value close to the electroweak breaking scale. The observed density perturbations and spectral index are readily obtained by the choice of the free parameters. The tensor to scalar ratio and the spectral tilt are extremely small.     

Noninvariant zeta-function regularization in quantum Liouville theory

We consider two possible zeta-function regularization schemes of quantum Liouville theory. One refers to the Laplace–Beltrami operator covariant under conformal transformations, the other to the naive noninvariant operator. The first produces an invariant regularization which however does not give rise to a theory invariant under the full conformal group. The other is equivalent to the regularization proposed by A.B. Zamolodchikov and Al.B. Zamolodchikov and gives rise to a theory invariant under the full conformal group.     

Fresh Inflation with Nonminimally Coupled Inflaton Field

I study a fresh inflationary model with a scalar field nonminimally coupled to gravity. An example is examined. I find that, as larger is the value of p (a t ^p ), as smaller (but larger in its absolute value) is the necessary value of the coupling to the inflaton field fluctuations can satisfy a scale invariant power spectrum.     

A phenomenology analysis of the tachyon warm inflation in loop quantum cosmology

We investigate the warm inflation condition in loop quantum cosmology. In our consideration, the system is described by a tachyon field interacted with radiation. The exponential potential function, V(?)=V₀e−α?$V(?)=V_0{e}^{-\alpha ?}$, with the same order parameters V₀$V_0$ and α, is taken as an example of this tachyon warm inflation model. We find that, for the strong dissipative regime, the total number of e-folds is less than the one in the classical scenario, and for the weak dissipative regime, the beginning time of the warm inflation will be later than the tachyon (cool) inflation.     

Causal dissipative cosmology

The full version of the causal thermodynamics of non-equilibrium phenomena is discussed in the context of the flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model. Power law solutions for the scale factor are shown to exist. It is also shown that the temporal behaviour of the temperature depends on the functional dependence of the coefficient of bulk viscosity on density.     

Bouncing alternatives to inflation

Although the inflationary paradigm is the most widely accepted explanation for the current cosmological observations, it does not necessarily correspond to what actually happened in the early stages of our Universe. To decide on this issue, two paths can be followed: first, all the possible predictions it makes must be derived thoroughly and compared with available data, and second, all the imaginable alternatives must be ruled out. Leaving the first task to all other contributors of this volume, we concentrate here on the second option, focusing on the bouncing alternatives and their consequences.     

Entanglement Renyi Entropy of Two Disjoint Intervals for Large c Liouville Field Theory

Entanglement entropy (EE) is a quantitative measure of the effective degrees of freedom and the correlation between the sub-systems of a physical system. Using the replica trick, we can obtain the EE by evaluating the entanglement Renyi entropy (ERE). The ERE is a q-analogue of the EE and expressed by the q replicated partition function. In the semi-classical approximation, it is apparently easy to calculate the EE because the classical action represents the partition function by the saddle point approximation and we do not need to perform the path integral for the evaluation of the partition function. In previous studies, it has been assumed that only the minimal-valued saddle point contributes to the EE. In this paper, we propose that all the saddle points contribute comparably but not necessarily equally to the EE by dealing carefully with the semi-classical limit and then the q→1 limit. For example, we numerically evaluate the ERE of two disjoint intervals for the large c Liouville field theory with q∼1. We exploit the BPZ equation with the four twist operators, whose solution is given by the Heun function. We determine the ERE by tuning the behavior of the Heun function such that it becomes consistent with the geometry of the replica manifold. We find the same two saddle points as previous studies for q∼1 in the above system. Then, we provide the ERE for the large but finite c and the q∼1 in case that all the saddle points contribute comparably to the ERE. In particular, the ERE is the summation of these two saddle points by the same weight, due to the symmetry of the system. Based on this work, it shall be of interest to reconsider EE in other semi-classical physical systems with multiple saddle points.     

Accelerating cosmology in modified gravity with scalar field

The modified gravity with 1/R term (R being the scalar curvature) and the Einstein-Hilbert term is studied by incorporating the phantom scalar field. A number of cosmological solutions are derived in the presence of the phantom field in the perfect fluid background. It is shown: the current inflation obtained in the modified gravity is affected by the existence of the phantom field.     

超Liouville模型精确解

运用Leznov-Saveliev代数分析方法和Drinfeld-Sokolov构造分别给出超协变形式和分量形式超Liouville模型精确解.     

Minimal inflation

Using the universal X-superfield that measures in the UV the violation of conformal invariance we build up a model of multifield inflation. The underlying dynamics is the one controlling the natural flow of this field in the IR to the goldstino superfield once SUSY is broken. We show that flat directions satisfying the slow-roll conditions exist only if R-symmetry is broken. Naturalness of our model leads to scales of SUSY breaking of the order of 10^11–13 GeV, a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of the initial perturbations and negligible gravitational waves. We obtain that the inflaton field is lighter than the gravitino by an amount determined by the slow-roll parameter η. The existence of slow-roll conditions is directly linked to the values of supersymmetry and R-symmetry breaking scales. We make cosmological predictions of our model and compare them to current data.     

The current status of observational cosmology

Observational cosmology has indeed made very rapid progress in recent years. The ability to quantify the universe has largely improved due to observational constraints coming from structure formation. The transition to precision cosmology has been spear-headed by measurements of the anisotropy in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) over the past decade. Observations of the large scale structure in the distribution of galaxies, high red-shift supernova, have provided the required complementary information. We review the current status of cosmological parameter estimates from joint analysis of CMB anisotropy and large scale structure (LSS) data. We also sound a note of caution on overstating the successes achieved thus far.     

Noncommutative quantum cosmology

We consider noncommutative quantum cosmology in the case of the low-energy string effective theory. Exact solutions are found and compared with the commutative case.     

Tachyon-Chaplygin inflation on the brane

Tachyon-brane inflationary universe model in the context of a Chaplygin gas equation of state is studied. General conditions for this model to be realizable are discussed. In the high-energy limit and by using an exponential potential we describe in great details the characteristic of this model. Recent observational data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe experiment are employed to restrict the parameters of the model.     

Baryogenesis and the new cosmology

I begin this talk with a brief review of the status of approaches to understanding the origin of the baryon asymmetry of the Universe (BAU). I then describe a recent model unifying three seemingly distinct problems facing particle cosmology: the origin of inflation, the generation of the BAU and the nature of dark energy.     

Generalized Exact Cosmologies with Interacting Yang-Mills and Nonlinear Scalar Fields

It has been shown that the set of the Einstein-Yang-Mills equations and the nonlinear scalar field have generalized solutions with a homogeneous scalar field, which interacts with the YM field in the Friedmann Universe.     

Holographic bounds and Higgs inflation

In a recently proposed scenario for primordial inflation, where the Standard Model (SM) Higgs boson plays a role of the inflation field, an effective field theory (EFT) approach is the most convenient for working out the consequences of breaking of perturbative unitarity, caused by the strong coupling of the Higgs field to the Ricci scalar. The domain of validity of the EFT approach is given by the ultraviolet (UV) cutoff, which, roughly speaking, should always exceed the Hubble parameter in the course of inflation. On the other hand, applying the trusted principles of quantum gravity to a local EFT demands that it should only be used to describe states in a region larger than their corresponding Schwarschild radius, manifesting thus a sort of UV/IR correspondence. We consider both constraints on EFT, to ascertain which models of the SM Higgs inflation are able to simultaneously comply with them. We also show that if the gravitational coupling evolves with the scale factor, the holographic constraint can be alleviated significantly with minimal set of canonical assumptions, by forcing the said coupling to be asymptotically free.