Research report 2011 - Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics

Inflation and cycles in the multiverse

Authors
Lehners, Jean-Luc
Departments
Abteilung Quantengravitation und Vereinheitlichte Theorien (Hermann Nicolai)
Summary
There are currently two theories that can explain both the homogeneity of the universe and the temperature fluctuations in the cosmic background radiation: inflation and the cyclic universe. Both models however lead to different predictions regarding the fine details of the distributions of these temperature fluctuations, so that upcoming data will be able to distinguish between them. According to string theory, both types of universe should be physically realised. This begs the question of whether one can already predict on a theoretical level which type of universe we are likely to inhabit.

For the full text, see the German version.

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