Quantum Vacuum and Gravitation: Testing General Relativity in Cosmology

Effective action and very early quantum Universe

22 Mar 2017, 09:00

1h 15m

02.430 (Mainz Institute for Theoretical Physics, Johannes Gutenberg University)

Speaker

Dr Andrei Barvinsky (Lebedev Physics Institute, Moscow, Russia)

Description

We give an overview of the effective action method in cosmology with a special emphasis on its application in the theory of quantum initial conditions for the very early Universe and the models of Higgs and $R^2$ inflation. The role of local gradient expansion and conformal anomaly as calculational methods for the effective action will be discussed and applied to the microcanonical state of the Universe and the model of a new type of hill-top inflation.

Presentation materials

Slides

Barbinsky-MITP.pdf