M theory model of a big crunch/big bang transition

Journal Article · Mon Nov 15 04:00:00 EST 2004 · Physical Review. D, Particles Fields

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.70.106004· OSTI ID:20698059

Turok, Neil; Perry, Malcolm ^[1]; Steinhardt, Paul J ^[2]

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1. DAMTP, Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA (United Kingdom)
2. Joseph Henry Laboratories, Princeton University, Princeton, New Jersey 08544 (United States)

We consider a picture in which the transition from a big crunch to a big bang corresponds to the collision of two empty orbifold planes approaching each other at a constant nonrelativistic speed in a locally flat background space-time, a situation relevant to recently proposed cosmological models. We show that p-brane states which wind around the extra dimension propagate smoothly and unambiguously across the orbifold plane collision. In particular we calculate the quantum mechanical production of winding M2-branes extending from one orbifold to the other. We find that the resulting density is finite and that the resulting gravitational backreaction is small. These winding states, which include the string theory graviton, can be propagated smoothly across the transition using a perturbative expansion in the membrane tension, an expansion which from the point of view of string theory is an expansion in inverse powers of {alpha}{sup '}. The conventional description of a crunch based on Einstein general relativity, involving Kasner or mixmaster behavior is misleading, we argue, because general relativity is only the leading order approximation to string theory in an expansion in positive powers of {alpha}{sup '}. In contrast, in the M theory setup we argue that interactions should be well behaved because of the smooth evolution of the fields combined with the fact that the string coupling tends to zero at the crunch. The production of massive Kaluza-Klein states should also be exponentially suppressed for small collision speeds. We contrast this good behavior with that found in previous studies of strings in Lorentzian orbifolds.

• OSTI ID: 20698059
• Journal Information: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Journal Name: Physical Review. D, Particles Fields Journal Issue: 10 Vol. 70; ISSN PRVDAQ; ISSN 0556-2821
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS
COSMOLOGICAL MODELS
COSMOLOGY
COUPLING
EXPANSION
GENERAL RELATIVITY THEORY
GRAVITATION
GRAVITONS
KALUZA-KLEIN THEORY
MEMBRANES
PERTURBATION THEORY
QUANTUM FIELD THEORY
QUANTUM MECHANICS
SPACE-TIME
STRING MODELS