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

Justin Khoury, Burt A. Ovrut, Paul J. Steinhardt, Neil Turok

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

1093 Scopus citations

Abstract

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.

Original languageAmerican English
Article number123522
JournalPhysical review D
Volume64
Issue number12
StatePublished - Dec 15 2001

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Physics and Astronomy (miscellaneous)

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Ekpyrotic universe: Colliding branes and the origin of the hot big bang'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this