Inflationary Universe  

In General > s.a. phenomenology and scenarios.
* Idea: A universe with an accelerating expansion rate, d2a/dt2 > 0 for FRW space in proper time; The expansion may be exponential, a exp{Ht}.
* Origin in homogeneous cosmology: It arises in models where (e.g., because of a phase transition) the energy density remains constant during the expansion, like a cosmological constant; This changes drastically the expansion rate wrt the standard big bang model, and makes it exponential in time (inflation), and we get a de Sitter-like behavior.
* Motivation: A sufficiently long inflation could solve the horizon, flatness and monopole problems of big bang models, and possibly explain structure formation; It makes predictions, and provides a link between high-energy physics and cosmology.
* Generalized view: The universe has no beginning and no end, inflating bubbles in it keep producing new ones.
* 1980s: Inflation predicts = 1, but observationally we see < 0.3 (without dark matter)
* 1991: What is the inflaton? How does it become ordinary matter (reheating problem)?
* 1998: Chaotic inflation seems to be the most widely accepted; Requires the least amount of fine tuning.
* 2008: Predictions from inflation have so far been confirmed, but what drove it and how long did it last?

Specific Issues > s.a. de sitter-cft; holography in field theory; Civilizations; singularities [theorems]; arrow of time.
* Issues: Understand the quantum theory of cosmological perturbations, how these might have led to inflation, and what imprint they left on the resulting classical spacetime.
@ General references: Albrecht et al PRD(87); Goncharov & Linde JETP(87); Jensen & Stein-Schabes PRD(87); Ellis CQG(88) [with current not 1]; Accetta & Steinhardt GRG(91); Frolov & Kofman JCAP(03)ht/02 [de Sitter thermodynamics]; Kinney & Riotto JCAP(06)ap/05 [uncertainties].
@ Preheating and reheating: Dolgov & Linde, Abbott et al [elementary theory]; Boyanovsky et al ap/96-in [review]; Kofman et al PRD(97)hp; Bassett & Tamburini PRL(98) [in GUTs]; Brandenberger hp/01-in.
@ And phase transitions: Mazenko et al PRD(85); Freivogel et al a0901 [probability distribution for bubble collisions].
@ Inhomogeneities, causality/genericity: Goldwirth & Piran PRD(89), PRP(92); Calzetta & Sakellariadou PRD(92), PRD(93); Iguchi & Ishihara PRD(97), et al PRD(97)gq/96 [curvature]; Kaloper et al PRD(99)ht/98; Vachaspati & Trodden PRD(00)gq/98; Toporensky G&C(99)gq; Sakai CQG(04)gq/03 [topological inflation]; Imponente & Montani gq/04; > s.a. phenomenology [perturbations].
@ Initial conditions: Calzetta PRD(91); Kaloper et al JHEP(02)ht; Collins & Holman ht/05 [effective theory renormalization].
@ Likelihood of inflation: Albrecht & Sorbo PRD(04)ht [framework].

And Planck Scale Physics > s.a. perturbations; FRW and minisuperspace quantum cosmology.
* Idea: Issues studied include the possible emergence of an inflationary from a quantum gravity instanton–tunneling solution, and the predictions for the perturbation spectrum in various approaches to quantum gravity.
@ General references: Brandenberger & Martin MPLA(01)ap/00, PRD(05)ht/04; Niemeyer PRD(01) [cutoff]; Danielsson PRD(02)ht; Shankaranarayanan CQG(03)gq/02; Hassan & Sloth NPB(03)ht/02 [and gup]; Burgess et al JHEP(03)ht/02; Alberghi et al PLB(04)gq/03; Cremonini PRD(03)ht [quantum-deformed wave equation]; Tsamis & Woodard CQG(09)-a0807 [simplified model].
@ Fluctuations: Starobinsky JETPL(01)ap [robustness of perturbations]; Easther et al PRD(02)ht [spectrum]; Danielsson JCAP(06)ht/05 [spectrum and expansion]; Kempf & Lorenz PRD(06)gq [with minimum length]; Kim MPLA(07)ap-in [effects of quantum fluctuations]; Martin LNP(08)-a0704 [Schwinger effect analogy, review].
@ Primordial inflation: Vilenkin PRD(83); Moss & Wright PRD(84); Hawking & Page NPB(88).
@ Emergence from quantum cosmology: Hawking & Turok PLB(98)ht, gq/98, Turok & Hawking PLB(98)ht [Hartle-Hawking proposal]; Linde PRD(98)gq, Bousso & Linde PRD(98)gq [tunneling]; Garriga PRD(00)ht/98; González-Díaz ht/98, PRD(99)ht/98; Unruh gq/98; Vilenkin PRD(98)ht; Barvinsky et al MPLA(99)gq; Hawking & Hertog PRD(02)ht; Luzzi a0705-PhD [WKB approximation]; Hawking a0710 [volume weighting in no-boundary proposal]; > s.a. early-universe cosmology, perturbations, phenomenology [decoherence and classicality].
@ And lqc: Nunes PRD(05)ap [lqg]; Germani et al PRD(07)gq [lqg, highly improbable]; Zhang & Ling JCAP(07)-a0705 [lqg]; Copeland et al PRD(08)-a0708 [super-inflation]; Nelson a0708-in [probability of inflation]; Artymowski et al JCAP(09)-a0807 [corrections, and cmb]; Wu et al JCAP(09) [tachyonic, inverse-volume corrections].
@ Other quantum-gravity effects: Tsamis & Woodard NPB(96)hp, AP(97)hp/96, AP(98); de Barros et al CQG(99) [Schwinger-DeWitt]; Pinto-Neto & Colistete PLA(01) [graceful exit]; Easther et al PRD(01)ht, PRD(03)ht/01 [strings and perturbations]; Woodard NPPS(02)ap/01-in; Hogan ap/02-in [info bounds and fluctuations]; Tsujikawa et al CQG(04)ap/03 [lqg]; Weinstein & Akhoury ht/03, ht/03; Guzmán et al PRD(04) [supersymmetric quantum cosmology]; Bachmann & Kempf gq/05 [on cmb]; Tsamis & Woodard CQG(05)gq [quantifying acceleration]; Kahya & Woodard PRD(07)-a0709 [corrections to inflaton self-mass]; > s.a. consequences of lorentz violation, quantum spacetime; early-universe cosmology [transplanckian issue].
@ And string theory: Kachru et al JCAP(03)ht; Brandenberger ht/05-in.
@ And non-commutative geometry: Chu et al MPLA(01)ht/00; Alexander et al PRD(03)ht/01; Lizzi et al JHEP(02)ht; Tsujikawa et al PLB(03) [inflation and cmb].

References > s.a. entropy bounds; gravitational instantons; history; types of scenarios [alternatives].
@ I: Guth & Steinhardt SA(84)may; Lindley Nat(90)may; Steinhardt Nat(90)may; Linde SA(94)nov; Lidsey 00.
@ Books: Abbott & Pi 86; in Kolb & Turner 94; Linde 90-ht/05; Guth 97; Liddle & Lyth 00; Lemoine et al 08; Lyth & Liddle 09.
@ Reviews: Linde RPP(84), PT(87)sep, gq/96-in, gq/96-in; Turner APPB(87), in(88); Olive PRP(90); Brandenberger ap/96, ap/97, hp/99-ln; Starobinsky ap/98-in; Peebles ap/99-in; Guth PRP(00)ap, ap/00-in, ap/01-in; Lyth hp/00; Brandenberger hp/01-in, ap/02; Linde IJMPA(02)ht/01-in [vs ekpyrotic]; García-Bellido NPPS(03)hp/02-in; Turok CQG(02); Turner ap/02-in; King hp/03-in; Guth ap/03-in, ap/04-in; Linde ht/04-in; Guth & Kaiser Sci(05)ap; Bassett et al RMP(06)ap/05 [especially reheating]; Guth JPA(07)ht-in [especially eternal]; Linde LNP(08)-a0705-in; Kinney IJMPA(07); Baumann & Peiris ASL(09)-a0810; Sriramkumar a0904-CS [and perturbations]; Baumann a0907-ln.
@ Intros: Liddle ap/99-in; Faraoni AJP(01)mar-phy/00; Albrecht ap/00-in; Watson ap/00; Tsujikawa hp/03-in; Lazarides JPCS(06)hp-ln; Langlois a0811-in; Kinney a0902-ln.
@ Philosophical: Earman & Mosterin PhSc(99)mar; Knobe et al BJPS(06)phy/03 [implications, and doomsday].

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