String Theory and the First Half of the Universe

String Theory and the First Half of the Universe

15 Feb 2024 | Fien Apers, Joseph P. Conlon, Edmund J. Copeland, Martin Mosny and Filippo Revello
This paper presents a detailed study of stringy moduli-driven cosmologies between the end of inflation and the beginning of the Hot Big Bang, covering both the background and cosmological perturbations. These cosmologies involve extended kination, tracker, and moduli-dominated epochs with significant trans-Planckian field excursions. Conventional effective field theory cannot control Planck-suppressed operators, so these epochs require a stringy completion for a consistent analysis. Perturbation growth in these stringy cosmologies is substantially enhanced compared to conventional cosmological histories. The trans-Planckian field evolution results in radical changes to Standard Model couplings during this history, with potential applications to baryogenesis, dark matter, and gravitational wave production. The paper discusses the background cosmology, including kination, the transition from kination to radiation, the tracker solution, moduli domination, and reheating. It also analyzes cosmological perturbations during these epochs, showing that they grow more significantly in stringy cosmologies. The paper highlights the importance of string theory in addressing the early universe history, particularly the long, relatively unconstrained period between inflation and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, which can last for an enormous time on a logarithmic scale. Stringy cosmologies may last for as long as half the current lifetime of the universe. The paper also discusses the implications of moduli domination and reheating, including the Cosmological Moduli Problem and the Moduli Dark Radiation problem. The paper concludes that applying the full cosmological toolkit to stringy early universe histories is timely and necessary.This paper presents a detailed study of stringy moduli-driven cosmologies between the end of inflation and the beginning of the Hot Big Bang, covering both the background and cosmological perturbations. These cosmologies involve extended kination, tracker, and moduli-dominated epochs with significant trans-Planckian field excursions. Conventional effective field theory cannot control Planck-suppressed operators, so these epochs require a stringy completion for a consistent analysis. Perturbation growth in these stringy cosmologies is substantially enhanced compared to conventional cosmological histories. The trans-Planckian field evolution results in radical changes to Standard Model couplings during this history, with potential applications to baryogenesis, dark matter, and gravitational wave production. The paper discusses the background cosmology, including kination, the transition from kination to radiation, the tracker solution, moduli domination, and reheating. It also analyzes cosmological perturbations during these epochs, showing that they grow more significantly in stringy cosmologies. The paper highlights the importance of string theory in addressing the early universe history, particularly the long, relatively unconstrained period between inflation and Big Bang Nucleosynthesis, which can last for an enormous time on a logarithmic scale. Stringy cosmologies may last for as long as half the current lifetime of the universe. The paper also discusses the implications of moduli domination and reheating, including the Cosmological Moduli Problem and the Moduli Dark Radiation problem. The paper concludes that applying the full cosmological toolkit to stringy early universe histories is timely and necessary.
Reach us at info@study.space
[slides and audio] String theory and the first half of the universe