1999/12/06 by Robert Brandenberger, Robert H. Brandenberger, Brandenberger, Robert H. +3 · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Historical and Architectural Studies #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.hep-ph/9912247
41 pages, invited lectures at the International School on Cosmology, Kish Island, Iran, Jan. 22 - Feb. 4 1999, to be publ. in "Large Scale Structure Formation" (Kluwer, Dordrecht, 2000)
arxiv created 1999/12/06 · openalex publication_date 1999/12/06 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We review a few off-the-beaten-track ideas in cosmology. They solve a variety of fundamental problems; also they are fun. We start with a description of non-singular dilaton cosmology. In these scenarios gravity is modified so that the Universe does not have a singular birth. We then present a variety of ideas mixing string theory and cosmology. These solve the cosmological problems usually solved by inflation, and furthermore shed light upon the issue of the number of dimensions of our Universe. We finally review several aspects of the varying speed of light theory. We show how the horizon, flatness, and cosmological constant problems may be solved in this scenario. We finally present a possible experimental test for a realization of this theory: a test in which the Supernovae results are to be combined with recent evidence for redshift dependence in the fine structure constant.