Princeton University Department of Physics Colloquium /Princeton Center for Theoretical Science - Big Bang and Beyond Program Public Lecture

LONG PROGRAM 2008-2009: "Big Bang and Beyond" Note: The public lecture does not require registration. Abstract - There is growing evidence for a period of cosmic inflation in the very early Universe. However, inflationary models are by nature sensitive to details of very high energy physics, including quantum gravity or string theory. Therefore a fully satisfactory model of cosmic inflation must be derived from a more fundamental theory. We describe recent attempts to build inflationary models in string theory, and discuss some of the most interesting possible observable signatures that arise in different classes of models: cosmic string networks, non-Gaussian density fluctuations, and primordial gravitational waves.