1998/10/17 by Redouane Fakir, Fakir, Redouane
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics (astro-ph) #Black Holes and Theoretical Physics #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #High Energy Physics - Phenomenology (hep-ph) #High Energy Physics - Theory (hep-th) #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #astro-ph #gr-qc #hep-ph #hep-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/9810054
Plain Latex, 3 figures
arxiv created 1998/10/17 · openalex publication_date 1998/10/17 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We find that general relativity can be naturally free of cosmological singularities. Several nonsingular models are currently available that either assume ad hoc matter contents, or are nonsingular only over a sector of solution space of zero measure, or depart drastically from general relativity at high energies. After much uncertainty over whether cosmological inflation could help solve the initial-singularity problem, the prevailing belief today is that general relativistic cosmology, with inflation or without, is endemically singular. This belief was reinforced by recent singularity theorems that take account specifically of inflation. Here, a viable inflationary cosmology is worked out that is naturally free of singularities despite the fact that 1) it uses only classical general relativity, 2) it assumes only the most generic inflationary matter contents, and 3) it is a theory of the chaotic-inflation type. That type of inflation is the most widely accepted today, as it demands the least fine-tuning of initial conditions. It is also shown how, by dropping the usual simplification of minimal coupling between matter and geometry, the null energy condition can be violated and the relevant singularity theorems circumvented.