Tensor modes from a primordial Hagedorn phase of string cosmology

It has recently been shown that a Hagedorn phase of string gas cosmology can provide a causal mechanism for generating a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of scalar metric fluctuations, without the need for an intervening period of de Sitter expansion. In this Letter, we compute the spectrum of tensor metric fluctuations (gravitational waves) in this scenario and show that it is also nearly scale invariant. However, whereas the spectrum of scalar modes has a small red tilt, the spectrum of tensor modes has a small blue tilt, unlike what occurs in slow-roll inflation. This provides a possible observational way to distinguish between our cosmological scenario and conventional slow-roll inflation.     

Thermodynamical Stability of Hagedorn and Radiation Regimes in Closed String Gas Cosmology

In this paper, we investigate thermal equilibrium in string gas cosmology which is dominated by closed string. We consider two interesting regimes, Hagedorn and radiation regimes. We find that for short strings in small radius of Hagedorn regime very large amount of energy requested to have thermal equilibrium but for long strings in such system a few energy is sufficient to have thermal equilibrium. On the other hand in the large radius of Hagedorn regime, which pressure is not negligible, we obtain a relation between the energy and pressure in terms of cosmic time which is satisfied by thermal equilibrium. Then we discuss about radiation regime and find that in all cases there is thermal equilibrium.     

Stationary rotating string world models with a magnetic field

Following the techniques used by Letelier and Stachel some new physically relevant stationary solutions of string cosmology with magnetic field are presented. In these solutions, the flow vector of matter has non-zero rotation and the cosmological constant is taken to be non-zero. Previously known solutions are derived as particular cases from our class of solutions. Some string models with vanishing cosmological constant are also discussed.     

Why there is something rather than nothing: cosmological constant from summing over everything in lorentzian quantum gravity

The density matrix of the Universe for the microcanonical ensemble in quantum cosmology describes an equipartition in the physical phase space of the theory (sum over everything), but in terms of the observable spacetime geometry this ensemble is peaked about the set of recently obtained cosmological instantons limited to a bounded range of the cosmological constant. This suggests the mechanism of constraining the landscape of string vacua and a possible solution to the dark energy problem in the form of the quasiequilibrium decay of the microcanonical state of the Universe.     

Calculation of Quantum Probability in O（2,2） String Cosmology with a Dilaton Potential

The quantum properties of O（2,2） string cosmology with a dilaton potential are studied in this paper. The cosmological solutions are obtained on three-dlmensional space-time. Moreover, the quantum probability of transition between two duality universe is calculated through a Wheeler-De Witt approach.     

Calculation of Quantum Probability in O(2,2) String Cosmology with a Dilaton Potential

The quantum properties of O(2,2) string cosmology with a dilaton potential are studied in this paper. The cosmological solutions are obtained on three-dimensional space-time. Moreover, the quantum probability of transition between two duality universe is calculated through a Wheeler-De Witt approach.     

Fluctuation probes of quark deconfinement

A classical and quantum mechanical generalized second law of thermodynamics in cosmology implies constraints on the effective equation of state of the universe in the form of energy conditions, obeyed by many known cosmological solutions, forbids certain cosmological singularities, and is compatible with entropy bounds. This second law is based on the conjecture that causal boundaries and not only event horizons have geometric entropies proportional to their area. In string cosmology the second law provides new information about nonsingular solutions.     

On the equilibrium of a heavy string with a gas of light strings

The thermodynamics of a gas of light strings in equilibrium with a heavy string, all contained in a box and at a temperature above the Hagedorn temperature, is described. Lower and upper bounds for the mass of the heavy string are derived. Validity limits of the thermodynamic approach are discussed. As an illustration the general formulae are applied to a particular case - the heterotic string.     

Brane cosmology

We summarize the main ideas underlying brane cosmology, or the cosmology of a Universe considered as a submanifold of a higher-dimensional spacetime and where ordinary matter is supposed to be confined. This new scenario, motivated by recent developments in string theory, leads to several specific features that could allow, via forthcoming high precision cosmological observations, to distinguish it from the traditional cosmological scenario. To cite this article: P. Binétruy et al., C. R. Physique 4 (2003).     

Loop quantum cosmology with a non-commutative quantum deformed photon gas

The non-commutativity of the space-time had important implications for the very early Universe, when its size was of the order of the Planck length. An important implication of this effect is the deformation of the standard dispersion relation of special relativity. Moreover, in the Planck regime gravity itself must be described by a quantum theory. We consider the implications of the modified dispersion relations for a photon gas, filling the early Universe, in the framework of loop quantum cosmology, a theoretical approach to quantum gravity. We consider three types of deformations of the dispersion relations of the photon gas, from which we obtain the Planck scale corrections to the energy density and pressure. The cosmological implications of the modified equations of state are explored in detail for all radiation models in the framework of the modified Friedmann equation of loop quantum cosmology. By numerically integrating the evolution equations we investigate the evolution of the basic cosmological parameters (scale factor, Hubble function, radiation temperature, and deceleration parameter) for a deformed photon gas filled Universe. In all models the evolution of the Universe shows the presence of a (nonsingular) bounce, corresponding to the transition from a contracting to an expanding phase.     

The Hagedorn transition and the number of degrees of freedom of string theory

Extending recent discussions of the Hagedorn transition in string theory, we argue that this transition is a first-order phase transition with a very large heat (corresponding to a genus-zero contribution to the free energy that appears above the critical temperature). Formally analyzing the k-loop contributions to the free energy at temperatures far above the Hagedorn temperature leads to a number of interesting speculations about the underlying degrees of freedom in string theory.     

Strings at nonzero temperature

String theory at nonzero temperature is reviewed. A bosonic string at nonzero temperature is studied and the calculation of its free energy in both the one-loop approximation and the case of arbitrary genus (multiloop analysis) is discussed. A string at nonzero temperature is compared with a string compacted on a one-dimensional torus. The properties of modular invariance and dual symmetry are discussed at both the one-loop and multiloop levels. The thermodynamics of superstrings, including also superstrings compactified on a torus, is also studied. Possible cosmological applications are briefly considered. It is shown that many features of string thermodynamics (in particular, the existence of the Hagedorn temperature and dual symmetry) also occur in the theory of noncritical strings.Translated from Izvestiya Vysshykh Uchebnykh Zavedenii, Fizika, No. 12, pp. 3–49, December, 1991.     

Consequences of a Cosmological Phase Transition at the TeV Scale

A finite vacuum energy density implies the existence of a UV scale for gravitational modes. This gives a phenomenological scale to the dynamical equations governing the cosmological expansion that must satisfy constraints consistent with quantum measurability and spatial flatness. Examination of these constraints for the observed dark energy density establishes a time interval from the transition to the present, suggesting major modifications from the thermal equations of state far from Planck density scales. The assumption that a phase transition initiates the radiation dominated epoch is shown under several scenarios to be able to produce fluctuations to the CMB of the order observed. Quantum measurability constraints (eg. uncertainly relations) define cosmological scales bounded by luminal expansion rates. It is shown that the dark energy can consistently be interpreted as being due to the vacuum energy of collective gravitational modes which manifest as the zero-point motions of coherent Planck scale mass units prior to the UV scale onset of gravitational quantum de-coherence for the cosmology. A cosmological model with multiple scales, one of which replaces an apparent cosmological “constant”, is shown to reproduce standard cosmology during intermediate times, while making the exploration of the early and late time cosmology more accessible. Talk presented at the 2006 biennial conference of the International Association for Relativistic Dynamics, June 12–14, University of Connecticut (Storrs).     

Computational complexity of the landscape: Part I

We study the computational complexity of the physical problem of finding vacua of string theory which agree with data, such as the cosmological constant, and show that such problems are typically NP hard. In particular, we prove that in the Bousso-Polchinski model, the problem is NP complete. We discuss the issues this raises and the possibility that, even if we were to find compelling evidence that some vacuum of string theory describes our universe, we might never be able to find that vacuum explicitly. In a companion paper, we apply this point of view to the question of how early cosmology might select a vacuum.     

Gravitational Waves and the Conformal Transformation

We study the problem of the behaviour of cosmological gravitational waves under conformal transformations. In spite of the apparent triviality of this question, the informations we can obtain from gravitational waves in the so-called Einstein's and Jordan's frame are not the same, mainly with respect to the choice of the initial conditions and of graviton production. The only exception seems to occur in string cosmology due to the duality properties.     

String Cosmological Solutions with O(d,d) Duality Symmetry and Matter Coupling

The duality properties of string cosmology model with negative energy matter are investigated by means of renormalization group equation,the cosmological solutions with exotic matter coupling are obtained in D=d+1 dimensional space-time.These inflation-power solutions can describe accelerated and decelerated process in the early universe,and the duality solutions can be generated through O(d,d) transformations.