String Theory and Cosmology

We discuss the main cosmological implications of considering string-loop effects and a potential for the dilaton in the lowest order string effective action. Our framework is based on the effective model arising from regarding homogeneous and isotropic dilaton, metric and Yang-Mills field configurations. The issues of inflation, entropy crisis and the Polonyi problem as well as the problem of the cosmological constant are discussed.Comment: 7 pages, plain Tex, no figure

Infinity in string cosmology: A review through open problems

We review recent developments in the field of string cosmology with particular emphasis on open problems having to do mainly with geometric asymptotics and singularities. We discuss outstanding issues in a variety of currently popular themes, such as tree-level string cosmology asymptotics, higher-order string correction effects, M-theory cosmology, braneworlds, and finally ambient cosmology.Comment: 37 pages, to appear in the IJMPD, v2: matches published versio

String theory and primordial cosmology

String cosmology aims at providing a reliable description of the very early Universe in the regime where standard-model physics is no longer appropriate, and where we can safely apply the basic ingredients of superstring models such as dilatonic and axionic forces, duality symmetries, winding modes, limiting sizes and curvatures, higher-dimensional interactions among elementary extended object. The sought target is that of resolving (or at least alleviating) the big problems of standard and inflationary cosmology like the spacetime singularity, the physics of the trans-Planckian regime, the initial condition for inflation, and so on.Comment: 17 pages, 5 figures, published in "Springer Handbook of Spacetime", ed. by A. Ashtekar and V. Petkov (Springer-Verlag, Berlin Heidelberg, 2014, Chapter 3

Towards an Observational Appraisal of String Cosmology

We review the current observational status of string cosmology when confronted with experimental datasets. We begin by defining common observational parameters and discuss how they are determined for a given model. Then we review the observable footprints of several string theoretic models, discussing the significance of various potential signals. Throughout we comment on present and future prospects of finding evidence for string theory in cosmology, and on significant issues for the future.Comment: Review accepted for publication in the CQG focus issue on string cosmology. Minor clarifications and references adde

Soft gluon resummation for squark and gluino pair-production at hadron colliders

We report on the study of soft gluon effects in the production of squarks and gluinos at hadron colliders. Close to production threshold, the emission of soft gluon results in the appearence of large logarithmic corrections in the theoretical expressions. In order to resum these corrections at next-to-leading-logarithmic accuracy appropriate one-loop anomalous dimensions have to be calculated. We present the calculation of the anomalous dimensions for all production channels of squarks and gluinos and provide numerical predictions for the Tevatron and the LHC.Comment: 6 pages, talk given at RADCOR 2009 - 9th International Symposium on Radiative Corrections (Applications of Quantum Field Theory to Phenomenology) October 25-30 2009, Ascona, Switzerlan

Noncommutative Quantum Cosmology

We consider noncommutative quantum cosmology in the case of the low-energy string effective theory. Exacts solutions are found and compared with the commutative case.The Noncommutative quantum cosmology is considered in the case of the low-energy string effective theory. Exacts solutions are found and compared with the commutative case.Comment: Revtex4, 3 pages, 2 figures, to appear in Gen.Rel.Gra

Looking Beyond Inflationary Cosmology

In spite of the phenomenological successes of the inflationary universe scenario, the current realizations of inflation making use of scalar fields lead to serious conceptual problems which are reviewed in this lecture. String theory may provide an avenue towards addressing these problems. One particular approach to combining string theory and cosmology is String Gas Cosmology. The basic principles of this approach are summarized.Comment: invited talk at "Theory Canada 1" (Univ. of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada, June 2 - 4, 2005) (references updated