Ekpyrotic Research Articles

Cosmology with positive and negative exponential potentials

We present a phase-plane analysis of cosmologies containing a scalar field ϕ with an exponential potential V ∝ exp(−λ κ ϕ) where κ2 = 8πG and V may be positive or negative. We show that power-law kinetic–potential scaling solutions only exist for sufficiently flat (λ2 < 6) positive potentials or steep (λ2 > 6) negative potentials. The latter correspond to a class of ever-expanding cosmologies with negative potential. However, we show that these expanding solutions with a negative potential are unstable in the presence of ordinary matter, spatial curvature or anisotropic shear, and generic solutions always recollapse to a singularity. Power-law kinetic–potential scaling solutions are the late-time attractor in a collapsing universe for steep negative potentials (the ekpyrotic scenario) and stable against matter, curvature or shear perturbations. Otherwise kinetic-dominated solutions are the attractor during collapse (the pre-big-bang scenario) and are only marginally stable with respect to anisotropic shear.

Adiabatic perturbations in pre-big bang models: Matching conditions and scale invariance

At low energy, the four-dimensional effective action of the ekpyrotic model of the universe is equivalent to a slightly modified version of the pre big bang model. We discuss cosmological perturbations in these models. In particular we address the issue of matching the perturbations from a collapsing to an expanding phase in full generality. We show that, generically, one obtains $n=0$ for the spectrum of scalar perturbations in the original pre big model (with vanishing potential). When an exponential potential for the dilaton is included, a scale invariant spectrum ($n=1$) of adiabatic scalar perturbations is produced under very generic matching conditions, both in a modified pre big bang and ekpyrotic scenario. We also derive general results valid for power law scale factors matched to a radiation dominated era.

INFLATION AND STRING COSMOLOGY

I will give a brief review of the various versions of inflationary theory, from Starobinsky model to chaotic inflation, and of recent observational data supporting inflationary theory. In the second part of the talk I will discuss the recently proposed ekpyrotic scenario and argue that in its present form it does not provide a viable alternative to inflation.

Isocurvature perturbations in the Ekpyrotic Universe

The Ekpyrotic scenario assumes that our visible Universe is a boundary brane in a five-dimensional bulk and that the hot Big Bang occurs when a nearly supersymmetric five-brane travelling along the fifth dimension collides with our visible brane. We show that the generation of isocurvature perturbations is a generic prediction of the Ekpyrotic Universe. This is due to the interactions in the kinetic terms between the brane modulus parametrizing the position of the five-brane in the bulk and the dilaton and volume moduli. We show how to separate explicitly the adiabatic and isocurvature modes by performing a rotation in field space. Our results indicate that adiabatic and isocurvature perturbations might be cross-correlated and that curvature perturbations might be entirely seeded by isocurvature perturbations.

Identification of perturbation modes and controversies in ekpyrotic perturbations

If the linear perturbation theory is valid through the bounce, the surviving fluctuations from the ekpyrotic scenario (cyclic one as well) should have very blue spectra with suppressed amplitude for the scalar-type structure. We derive the same (and consistent) result using the curvature perturbation in the uniform-field (comoving) gauge and in the zero-shear gauge. Previously, Khoury et al. interpreted results from the latter gauge condition incorrectly and claimed the scale-invariant spectrum, thus generating controversy in the literature. We also correct similar errors in the literature based on wrong mode identification and joining condition. No joining condition is needed for the derivation.

Density perturbations in the ekpyrotic scenario

We study the generation of density perturbations in the ekpyrotic scenario for the early universe, including gravitational backreaction. We expose interesting subtleties that apply to both inflationary and ekpyrotic models. Our analysis includes a detailed proposal of how the perturbations generated in a contracting phase may be matched across a `bounce' to those in an expanding hot big bang phase. For the physical conditions relevant to the ekpyrotic scenario, we re-obtain our earlier result of a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of energy density perturbations. We find that the perturbation amplitude is typically small, as desired to match observation.

Passing through the bounce in the ekpyrotic models

By considering a simplified but exact model for realizing the ekpyrotic scenario, we clarify various assumptions that have been used in the literature. In particular, we discuss the new ekpyrotic prescription for passing the perturbations through the singularity which we show to provide a spectrum depending on a nonphysical normalization function. We also show that this prescription does not reproduce the exact result for a sharp transition. Then, more generally, we demonstrate that, in the only case where a bounce can be obtained in Einstein general relativity without facing singularities and/or violation of the standard energy conditions, the bounce cannot be made arbitrarily short. This contrasts with the standard (inflationary) situation where the transition between two eras with different values of the equation of state can be considered as instantaneous. We then argue that the usually conserved quantities are not constant on a typical bounce time scale. Finally, we also examine the case of a test scalar field (or gravitational waves) where similar results are obtained. We conclude that the full dynamical equations of the underlying theory should be solved in a nonsingular case before any conclusion can be drawn.

Cosmic evolution in a cyclic universe

Based on concepts drawn from the ekpyrotic scenario and M-theory, we elaborate our recent proposal of a cyclic model of the Universe. In this model, the Universe undergoes an endless sequence of cosmic epochs which begin with the Universe expanding from a `big bang' and end with the Universe contracting to a `big crunch.' Matching from `big crunch' to `big bang' is performed according to the prescription recently proposed with Khoury, Ovrut and Seiberg. The expansion part of the cycle includes a period of radiation and matter domination followed by an extended period of cosmic acceleration at low energies. The cosmic acceleration is crucial in establishing the flat and vacuous initial conditions required for ekpyrosis and for removing the entropy, black holes, and other debris produced in the preceding cycle. By restoring the Universe to the same vacuum state before each big crunch, the acceleration insures that the cycle can repeat and that the cyclic solution is an attractor.

Generation of a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations in cosmological models with a contracting phase

In Pre-Big-Bang and in Ekpyrotic Cosmology, perturbations on cosmological scales today are generated from quantum vacuum fluctuations during a phase when the Universe is contracting (viewed in the Einstein frame). The backgrounds studied to date do not yield a scale invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations. Here, we present a new contracting background model (neither of Pre-Big-Bang nor of the Ekpyrotic form) involving a single scalar field coupled to gravity in which a scale-invariant spectrum of curvature fluctuations and gravitational waves results. The equation of state of this scalar field corresponds to cold matter. We demonstrate that if this contracting phase can be matched via a nonsingular bounce to an expanding Friedmann cosmology, the scale-invariance of the curvature fluctuations is maintained. We also find new background solutions for Pre-Big-Bang and for Ekpyrotic cosmology, which involve two scalar fields with exponential potentials with background values which are evolving in time. We comment on the difficulty of obtaining a scale-invariant spectrum of adiabatic fluctuations with background solutions which have been studied in the past.

From big crunch to big bang

We consider conditions under which a universe contracting towards a big crunch can make a transition to an expanding big bang universe. A promising example is 11-dimensional M theory in which the eleventh dimension collapses, bounces, and reexpands. At the bounce, the model can reduce to a weakly coupled heterotic string theory and, we conjecture, it may be possible to follow the transition from contraction to expansion. The possibility opens the door to new classes of cosmological models. For example, we discuss how it suggests a major simplification and modification of the recently proposed ekpyrotic scenario.

Vacuum decay constraints on a cosmological scalar field.

If the potential of a scalar field phi which currently provides the "dark energy" of the Universe has a minimum at phi = -M(0)(4)<0, then quantum-mechanical fluctuations could nucleate a bubble of phi at a negative value of the potential. This bubble would then expand at the speed of light. Given that no such bubble enveloped us in the past, we find that any minimum in V(phi) must be separated from the current phi value by more than min[1.5M(0),0.21M(Pl)], where M(Pl) is the Planck mass. We also show that vacuum decay renders a cyclic or ekpyrotic universe with M(0)(4) > or approximately 10(-10)M(4)(Pl) untenable.

Cosmological structure problem of the ekpyrotic scenario

We address the perturbation power spectrum generated in the recently proposed ekpyrotic scenario by Khoury et al. The issue has been raised recently by Lyth who used the conventional method based on a conserved variable in the large-scale limit, and derived different results from Khoury et al. The calculation is straightforward in the uniform-curvature gauge where the generated blue spectrum with a suppressed amplitude survives as the final spectrum. Whereas, although the metric fluctuations become unimportant and a scale-invariant spectrum is generated in the zero-shear gauge, the mode does not survive the bounce, but has the same final result. Therefore, an exponential potential leads to a power-law expansion or contraction $a\ensuremath{\propto}|t{|}^{p},$ and the power p dictates the final power spectra of both the scalar and tensor structures. If $p\ensuremath{\ll}1$ as one realization of the ekpyrotic scenario suggests, the results are ${n}_{S}\ensuremath{-}1\ensuremath{\simeq}2\ensuremath{\simeq}{n}_{T}$ and the amplitude of the scalar perturbation is suppressed relative to that of the gravitational wave by a factor $\sqrt{p}/2.$ Both results confirm Lyth's. An observation is made on the constraint on the dynamics of the seed generating stage from the requirement of a scale-invariant spectrum.

On ekpyrotic brane collisions

We derive the five-dimensional metrics which describe a non-singular boundary brane collision in the ekpyrotic scenario in the context of general relativity, taking into account brane tension. We show that the metrics constrain matter created in the collision to have negative energy density or pressure. In particular, the minimal field content of heterotic M-theory leads to negative energy density. We also consider bulk brane-boundary brane collisions and show that the collapse of the fifth dimension is an artifact of the four-dimensional effective theory.

Density perturbations in the ekpyrotic Universe and string-inspired generalizations

We study density perturbations in several cosmological models motivated by string theory. The evolution and the spectra of curvature perturbations ${\cal R}$ are analyzed in the Ekpyrotic scenario and nonsingular string cosmologies. We find that these string-inspired models generally exhibit blue spectra in contrast to standard slow-roll inflationary scenarios. We also clarify the parameter range where ${\cal R}$ is enhanced on superhorizon scales.

The failure of cosmological perturbation theory in the new ekpyrotic scenarios

The failure of cosmological perturbation theory in the new ekpyrotic scenarios

The failure of cosmological perturbation theory in the new ekpyrotic and cyclic ekpyrotic scenarios

Cosmological perturbation theory fails in the new ekpyrotic and cyclic ekpyrotic scenarios, before the scale factor of the Universe reaches zero. As a result, a recently-proposed recipe for evolving the curvature perturbation through the bounce in these scenarios cannot be justified.

The primordial curvature perturbation in the ekpyrotic Universe

In the ekpyrotic scenario the Universe is initially collapsing, the energy density coming from a scalar field with a negative exponential potential. On the basis of a calculation ignoring the gravitational back-reaction the authors of the scenario claim that during collapse the vacuum fluctuation creates a perturbation in the comoving curvature, which has a flat spectrum in accordance with observation. In this note the back-reaction is included, and it is found that the spectrum during collapse is strongly scale-dependent with negligible magnitude. The spectrum is continuous across the bounce if the spacetime is smooth, making it unlikely that the ekpyrotic scenario can be compatible with observation.

BPS branes in cosmology

The possibility to study the M or string theory cosmology via 5D bulk and brane action is investigated. The role of the 4-form field in the theory of Bogomol'nyi-Prasad-Sommerfield (BPS) branes in 5D is clarified. We describe arguments suggesting that the effective 4D description of the universe in the ekpyrotic scenario should lead to contraction rather than expansion of the universe. To verify these arguments, we study the full 5D action prior to its integration over the fifth dimension. We show that if one adds the potential $V(Y)$ to the action of the bulk brane, then the metric ansatz used in the ekpyrotic scenario does not solve the dilaton and gravitational equations. To find a consistent cosmological solution one must use a more general metric ansatz and a complete 5D description of the brane interaction instead of simply adding an effective 4D bulk brane potential $V(Y).$

Pyrotechnic universe

One of the central points of the ekpyrotic cosmological scenario based on Horava-Witten theory is that we live on a negative tension brane. However, the tension of the visible brane is positive in the usual HW phenomenology with stronger coupling on the hidden brane, both for standard and non-standard embedding. To make ekpyrotic scenario realistic one must solve the problem of the negative cosmological constant on the visible brane and fine-tune the bulk brane potential with an accuracy of $10^{-50}$. In terms of a canonically normalized scalar field $\phi$ describing the position of the brane, this potential must take a very unusual form $V(\phi)\sim e^{-{5000 \phi\over M_p}}$. We describe the problems which appear when one attempts to obtain this potential in string theory. The mechanism for the generation of density perturbations in this scenario is not brane-specific; it is a particular limiting case of the mechanism of tachyonic preheating. Unlike inflation, this mechanism exponentially amplifies not only quantum fluctuations, but also initial inhomogeneities. As a result, to solve the homogeneity problem in this scenario, one would need the branes to be parallel to each other with an accuracy better than $10^{-60}$ on a scale $10^{30}$ times greater than the distance between the branes. Thus, at present, inflation remains the only robust mechanism that produces density perturbations with a flat spectrum and simultaneously solves all major cosmological problems.

Ekpyrotic universe: Colliding branes and the origin of the hot big bang

We propose a cosmological scenario in which the hot big bang universe is produced by the collision of a brane in the bulk space with a bounding orbifold plane, beginning from an otherwise cold, vacuous, static universe. The model addresses the cosmological horizon, flatness and monopole problems and generates a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of density perturbations without invoking superluminal expansion (inflation). The scenario relies, instead, on physical phenomena that arise naturally in theories based on extra dimensions and branes. As an example, we present our scenario predominantly within the context of heterotic M theory. A prediction that distinguishes this scenario from standard inflationary cosmology is a strongly blue gravitational wave spectrum, which has consequences for microwave background polarization experiments and gravitational wave detectors.