The study of cosmological aspects of flux compacitifications in string theory
Final Report Abstract
Our universe started with a big bang approximately 13.8 billion years ago and has been expanding ever since. In 1998 astronomer’s discovered, through observing distant supernovae, that the current expansion of our universe is, instead of slowing down, actually accelerating. This surprising discovery can be best explained by introducing the so called dark energy that permeates all of space and can lead to an accelerated expansion of the universe. Describing and understanding this dark energy has been an active research area in cosmology for over a decade. My research project improved our understanding of the description of dark energy in the context of string theory, which is a theory of quantum gravity, i.e. it combines General Relativity and Quantum Mechanics in a single theory. In particular, I have scrutinized commonly made simplifications in previous models, presented a statistical approach to study large classes of models at once and invented a new way of construction viable models of dark energy in string theory. Being a UV complete theory of quantum gravity, string theory is also very well suited to address questions about the very early evolution of our universe. It is now widely believed that shortly after the big bang the universe underwent a short and very rapid phase of expansion called inflation. Such a period of inflation leads to density and gravitational waves that leave an imprint on the cosmic microwave background that we can observe today. Ever improving experiments provide us with a treasure trove of data that we are trying to explain using string theory. As part of this project I have constructed models of inflation that make a variety of predictions that are consistent with current observations and will be further tested in the near future. In addition to describing a period of inflation at the very beginning of the universe, these models of inflation can also account for the dark energy mentioned above.
Publications
- “The Wasteland of Random Supergravities”, JHEP 1203, 102 (2012)
D. Marsh, L. McAllister and T. Wrase
- “Charting an Inflationary Landscape with Random Matrix Theory”, JCAP 1311, 040 (2013)
D. Marsh, L. McAllister, E. Pajer and T. Wrase
- “Analytic Classes of Metastable de Sitter Vacua”, JHEP 1410, 011 (2014)
R. Kallosh, A. Linde, B. Vercnocke, T. Wrase
- “Emergence of Spontaneously Broken Supersymmetry on an Anti-D3-Brane in KKLT dS Vacua”, JHEP 1412, 117 (2014)
R. Kallosh and T. Wrase
- “The Powers of Monodromy”, JHEP 1409, 123 (2014)
L. McAllister, E. Silverstein, A. Westphal, and T. Wrase
