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Title:
Ekpyrotic and cyclic cosmology
Authors:
Lehners, Jean-Luc
Affiliation:
AA(Princeton Center for Theoretical Science, Jadwin Hall, Princeton University, Princeton NJ 08544, USA)
Publication:
Physics Reports, Volume 465, Issue 6, p. 223-263.
Publication Date:
09/2008
Origin:
ELSEVIER
DOI:
10.1016/j.physrep.2008.06.001
Bibliographic Code:
2008PhR...465..223L

Abstract

Ekpyrotic and cyclic cosmologies provide theories of the very early and of the very late universe. In these models, the big bang is described as a collision of branes — and thus the big bang is not the beginning of time. Before the big bang, there is an ekpyrotic phase with equation of state w=Pρ≫1 (where P is the average pressure and ρ the average energy density) during which the universe slowly contracts. This phase resolves the standard cosmological puzzles and generates a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological perturbations containing a significant non-Gaussian component. At the same time it produces small-amplitude gravitational waves with a blue spectrum. The dark energy dominating the present-day cosmological evolution is reinterpreted as a small attractive force between our brane and a parallel one. This force eventually induces a new ekpyrotic phase and a new brane collision, leading to the idea of a cyclic universe. This review discusses the detailed properties of these models, their embedding in M-theory and their viability, with an emphasis on open issues and observational signatures.
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