Do we have a Theory of Early Universe Cosmology?
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| Title: |
| Do we have a Theory of Early Universe Cosmology? |
| Authors: |
| Brandenberger, Robert |
| Publication: |
| eprint arXiv:1204.6108 |
| Publication Date: |
| 04/2012 |
| Origin: |
| ARXIV |
| Keywords: |
| Astrophysics - Cosmology and Extragalactic Astrophysics, General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology, High Energy Physics - Phenomenology, High Energy Physics - Theory, Physics - History and Philosophy of Physics |
| Comment: |
| 42 pages, 7 figures, a more technical version of this article can be found in arXiv:1203.6698, invited talk at the workshop "Philosophical Aspects of Modern Cosmology", 22 - 23 Sept. 2011, Granada, Spain, to be publ. in the proceedings (Special issue: Studies in History and Philosophy of Modern Physics, Elsevier); several clarifying footnotes and some references added |
| Bibliographic Code: |
| 2012arXiv1204.6108B |
Abstract
The inflationary scenario has become the paradigm of early universe cosmology, and - in conjuction with ideas from superstring theory - has led to speculations about an "inflationary multiverse". From a point of view of phenomenology, the inflationary universe scenario has been very successful. However, the scenario suffers from some conceptual problems, and thus it does not (yet) have the status of a solid theory. There are alternative ideas for the evolution of the very early universe which do not involve inflation but which agree with most current cosmological observations as well as inflation does. In this lecture I will outline the conceptual problems of inflation and introduce two alternative pictures - the "matter bounce" and "string gas cosmology", the latter being a realization of the "emergent universe" scenario based on some key principles of superstring theory. I will demonstrate that these two alternative pictures lead to the same predictions for the power spectrum of the observed large-scale structure and for the angular power spectrum of cosmic microwave background anisotropies as the inflationary scenario, and I will mention predictions for future observations with which the three scenarios can be observationally teased apart.
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