The Future of our Universe (Part 2)

Cosmology and String Theory: The Future of our Universe To explain why such discovery is so revolutionary and “ex- plosive”, and understand the subtle link that could exist between such acceleration and the pre-Big-Bang cosmology described in the previous chapters, it is wise to proceed step by step. Let us start by recalling that the … Read more

The Future of our Universe (Part 1)

Cosmology and String Theory: The Future of our Universe In order to solve the equations of general relativity, and therefore to be able to predict the future behavior of the cosmic space-time geometry, it is essential to have a precise knowledge of at least three parameters peculiar to the current cosmological state. For instance, (1) … Read more

The Theory of Strings (Part 2)

The Universe Before the Big Bang The Theory of Strings Hence, the observed processes can be suitably described by applying the formalism of quantum field theory following the standard model of elementary particle physics, without any reference to string theory. The same conclusion applies to the gravitational force if we limit ourselves to sufficiently flat … Read more

The Theory of Strings (Part 1)

The Universe Before the Big Bang The Theory of Strings This chapter is devoted to those readers interested in the physical foundations of pre-Big-Bang cosmology and who wish to learn the basic concepts of the theory of one-dimensional extended objects – usually dubbed string theory. In particular, we will try to outline here the quantum … Read more