IPMU Colloquium

Speaker: Robert Brandenberger (McGill)
Title: String Theory and the Very Early Universe
Date (JST): Mon, Feb 09, 2009, 15:30 - 17:00
Place: Room 633, 6th floor, General Research Building
Related File: 43.pdf
Abstract: The inflationary scenario, the current paradigm of early universe cosmology, suffers from serious conceptual problems. These problems motivate the search for a new model of the very early universe based on an improved understanding of fundamental physics at the highest energy scales. In this colloquium, I will present an attempt to build such a new model based on fundamental principles of string theory. String Gas Cosmology, the name of this new model, can address several of the conceptual problems of inflation, leads to an alternative scenario of cosmological structure formation which generates a nearly scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological fluctuations, like inflation does, and makes testable predictions which can be probed in future observations.