http://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th?0103239
The Ekpyrotic Universe: Colliding Branes and the Origin of the Hot Big Bang
Authors: Justin Khoury, Burt A. Ovrut, Paul J. Steinhardt, Neil Turok
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 resolves 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.
Comments: 4 figures, 63 pages [too long for me]
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