M-theory observables for cosmological space-times
@inproceedings{TBanks2001MtheoryOF, title={M-theory observables for cosmological space-times}, author={T.Banks and W.Fischler}, year={2001} }
We discuss the construction of the analog of an S-matrix for space-times that begin with a Big-Bang and asymptote to an FRW universe with nonnegative cosmological constant. When the cosmological constant is positive there are many such S-matrices, related mathematically by gauge transformations and physically by an analog of the principle of black hole complementarity. In the limit of vanishing $\Lambda$ these become (approximate) Poincare transforms of each other. Considerations of the initial…
68 Citations
String Propagation in the Presence of Cosmological Singularities
- Physics, Mathematics
- 2002
We study string propagation in a spacetime with positive cosmological constant, which includes a circle whose radius approaches a finite value as |t|??, and goes to zero at t = 0. Near this…
Quantum Gravity In De Sitter Space
- Physics
- 2001
We discuss some general properties of quantum gravity in De Sitter space. It has been argued that the Hilbert space is of finite dimension. This suggests a macroscopic argument that General…
The fate of four dimensions
- Physics
- 2003
In gravitational theories with extra dimensions, it is argued that the existence of a positive vacuum energy generically implies catastrophic instability of our four-dimensional world. The most…
Asymptotic states of the bounce geometry
- Physics
- 2006
We consider the question of asymptotic observables in cosmology. We assume that string theory contains a landscape of vacua, and that metastable de Sitter regions can decay to a zero cosmological…
Cosmology and the S matrix
- Physics
- 2005
We study conditions for the existence of asymptotic observables in cosmology. With the exception of de Sitter space, the thermal properties of accelerating universes permit arbitrarily long…
Can black holes exist in an accelerating universe
- Physics
- 2002
This letter deals with an analysis of the space-time static metric that corresponds to a quintessential state equation with constant characteristic parameter. Following a procedure parallel to as it…
Big Bangs and Bounces on the Brane
- Physics
- 2002
In view of our accelerating universe, one of the outstanding theoretical issues is the absence of a quantum-gravitational description of de Sitter space. Although speculative, an intriguing…
From big bang to big crunch and beyond
- Physics
- 2002
We study a quotient Conformal Field Theory, which describes a 3+1 dimensional cosmological spacetime. Part of this spacetime is the Nappi-Witten (NW) universe, which starts at a ``big bang''…