Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics – General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Scientific paper
2005-05-09
Gen.Rel.Grav.37:1671-1674,2005; Int.J.Mod.Phys.D14:2335-2340,2005
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
Submitted to Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition; based on hep-th/0410270
Scientific paper
10.1142/S0218271805008054
If our universe underwent inflation, its entropy during the inflationary phase was substantially lower than it is today. Because a low-entropy state is less likely to be chosen randomly than a high-entropy one, inflation is unlikely to arise through randomly-chosen initial conditions. To resolve this puzzle, we examine the notion of a natural state for the universe, and argue that it is a nearly-empty spacetime. If empty space has a small vacuum energy, however, inflation can begin spontaneously in this background. This scenario explains why a universe like ours is likely to have begun via a period of inflation, and also provides an origin for the cosmological arrow of time.
Carroll Sean M.
Chen Jennifer
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