Populating the landscape: A top-down approach
- DAMTP, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA (United Kingdom)
- Physics Department, Theory Division, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23 (Switzerland)
We put forward a framework for cosmology that combines the string landscape with no boundary initial conditions. In this framework, amplitudes for alternative histories for the universe are calculated with final boundary conditions only. This leads to a top-down approach to cosmology, in which the histories of the universe depend on the precise question asked. We study the observational consequences of no boundary initial conditions on the landscape, and outline a scheme to test the theory. This is illustrated in a simple model landscape that admits several alternative inflationary histories for the universe. Only a few of the possible vacua in the landscape will be populated. We also discuss in what respect the top-down approach differs from other approaches to cosmology in the string landscape, like eternal inflation.
- OSTI ID:
- 20774879
- Journal Information:
- Physical Review. D, Particles Fields, Vol. 73, Issue 12; Other Information: DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevD.73.123527; (c) 2006 The American Physical Society; Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0556-2821
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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