| Early Universe Cosmology in Internal Relativity
November 20, 2008 - 12:05-12:30pm
RLE Conference Center 36-428
Abstract
I will present a new approach to early universe cosmology. Inflation is replaced by a phase transition in which both matter and geometry are created simultaneously. I calculate the spectrum of metric perturbations and show that it is flat. I then argue that as a consequence of the dynamic nature of the phase transition, the spectrum is likely not completely flat but tilted. I argue that the tilt is related to one of the critical exponents characterizing the phase transition. This exponent generically lies between $0.03$ and $0.06$. It thus coincides with the observed tilt of the perturbation spectrum.
Bio
Olaf Dreyer's research focuses on novel approaches to quantum gravity and the foundations of quantum theory. He obtained a Ph.D. in quantum gravity from Pennsylvania State University and he held a postdoctoral position at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics and a Marie Curie fellowship at Imperial College of Science, Technology, and Medicine. He is currently a postdoctoral fellow at MIT.
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