The Relic Problem of String Gas Cosmology

We discuss the relic problem of string gas cosmology (SGC) using gravitinos and magnetic monopoles as examples. Since SGC operates near or at the Hagedorn temperature, relics are produced copiously; in the absence of dilution, their abundances are too large. A subsequent phase of reheating can solve the gravitino problem, but fails to dilute monopoles sufficiently. We propose a subsequent phase of inflation as the most natural solution to the monopole problem; unfortunately, inflation marginalizes almost all potential achievements of SGC, with the exception of a possible explanation of the dichotomy of space (why did only three dimensions inflate?).Comment: 5 pages, V2 and V3: added reference

On the Suppression of Parametric Resonance and the Viability of Tachyonic Preheating after Multi-Field Inflation

We investigate the feasibility of explosive particle production via parametric resonance or tachyonic preheating in multi-field inflationary models by means of lattice simulations. We observe a strong suppression of resonances in the presence of four-leg interactions between the inflaton fields and a scalar matter field, leading to insufficient preheating when more than two inflatons couple to the same matter field. This suppression is caused by a dephasing of the inflatons that increases the effective mass of the matter field. Including three-leg interactions leads to tachyonic preheating, which is not suppressed by an increase in the number of fields. If four-leg interactions are sub-dominant, we observe a slight enhancement of tachyonic preheating. Thus, in order for preheating after multi-field inflation to be efficient, one needs to ensure that three-leg interactions are present. If no tachyonic contributions exist, we expect the old theory of reheating to be applicable.Comment: v2: reference added, identical with PRD version, 23 pages, 3 figure

A Critical Review of Classical Bouncing Cosmologies

Given the proliferation of bouncing models in recent years, we gather and critically assess these proposals in a comprehensive review. The Planck data shows an unmistakably red, quasi scale-invariant, purely adiabatic primordial power spectrum and no primary non-Gaussianities. While these observations are consistent with inflationary predictions, bouncing cosmologies aspire to provide an alternative framework to explain them. Such models face many problems, both of the purely theoretical kind, such as the necessity of violating the NEC and instabilities, and at the cosmological application level, as exemplified by the possible presence of shear. We provide a pedagogical introduction to these problems and also assess the fitness of different proposals with respect to the data. For example, many models predict a slightly blue spectrum and must be fine-tuned to generate a red spectral index; as a side effect, large non-Gaussianities often result. We highlight several promising attempts to violate the NEC without introducing dangerous instabilities at the classical and/or quantum level. If primordial gravitational waves are observed, certain bouncing cosmologies, such as the cyclic scenario, are in trouble, while others remain valid. We conclude that, while most bouncing cosmologies are far from providing an alternative to the inflationary paradigm, a handful of interesting proposals have surfaced, which warrant further research. The constraints and lessons learned as laid out in this review might guide future research.Comment: 60 pages, 20 figures, review articl

Multi-Field Inflation on the Landscape

We examine a wide class of multi-field inflationary models based on fields that decay or stabilize during inflation in a staggered fashion. The fields driving assisted inflation are on flat, short stretches, before they encounter a sharp drop; whenever a field encounters such a drop due to its slow roll evolution, its energy is transferred to other degrees of freedom, i.e. radiation. The rate at which fields decay is determined dynamically and it is not a free parameter in this class of models. To compute observables, we generalize the analytic framework of staggered inflation, allowing for more general initial conditions and varying potentials. By searching for generic situations arising on the landscape, we arrive at a setup involving linear or hilltop potentials and evenly spread out initial field values. This scenario is not more fine tuned than large-field models, despite the fact that many more degrees of freedom are involved. Further, the $\eta$-problem can be alleviated. The additional decrease of the potential energy caused by the decay of fields provides leading order contribution to observables, such as the scalar and tensor spectral index or the tensor to scalar ratio, for which we derive general expressions. We compare the predictions with WMAP5 constraints and find that hilltop potentials are borderline ruled out at the $2\sigma$-level, while linear potentials are in excellent agreement with observations. We further comment on additional sources of gravitational waves and non-Gaussianities that could serve as a smoking gun for staggered inflation.Comment: 29 pages, 2 figures; v2: slightly extended to match JCAP versio

Preheating after Multi-field Inflation

In this note I study preheating after multi-field inflation to assess the feasibility of parametric resonance. An intuitive argument for the suppression of resonances due to dephasing of fields in generic multi-field models is presented. This effect is absent in effective single field models, rendering them inappropriate for the study of preheating.Comment: 4 pages, proceedings for work presented at Cargese 2008, COSMO08 and UniverseNet second annual meetin

Non-Gaussianities and Preheating from N-flation and Magnetogenesis via rotating cosmic string loops

In this thesis we examine multi-field inflationary models of the early Universe. Since non-Gaussianities may allow for the possibility to discriminate between models of inflation, we compute deviations from a Gaussian spectrum of primordial perturbations by extending the delta-N formalism. We use N-flation as a concrete model; our findings show that these models are generically indistinguishable as long as the slow roll approximation is still valid. Besides computing non-Guassinities, we also investigate Preheating after multi-field inflation. Within the framework of N-flation, we find that preheating via parametric resonance is suppressed, an indication that it is the old theory of preheating that is applicable. In addition to studying non-Gaussianities and preheatng in multi-field inflationary models, we study magnetogenesis in the early universe. To this aim, we propose a mechanism to generate primordial magnetic fields via rotating cosmic string loops. Magnetic fields in the micro-Gauss range have been observed in galaxies and clusters, but their origin has remained elusive. We consider a network of strings and find that rotating cosmic string loops, which are continuously produced in such networks, are viable candidates for magnetogenesis with relevant strength and length scales, provided we use a high string tension and an efficient dynamo