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Populating the landscape: A top-down approach

S. W. Hawking and Thomas Hertog
Phys. Rev. D 73, 123527 – Published 23 June 2006
An article within the collection: The Work of Stephen Hawking in Physical Review

Abstract

We put forward a framework for cosmology that combines the string landscape with no boundary initial conditions. In this framework, amplitudes for alternative histories for the universe are calculated with final boundary conditions only. This leads to a top-down approach to cosmology, in which the histories of the universe depend on the precise question asked. We study the observational consequences of no boundary initial conditions on the landscape, and outline a scheme to test the theory. This is illustrated in a simple model landscape that admits several alternative inflationary histories for the universe. Only a few of the possible vacua in the landscape will be populated. We also discuss in what respect the top-down approach differs from other approaches to cosmology in the string landscape, like eternal inflation.

  • Figure
  • Received 20 February 2006

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.73.123527

©2006 American Physical Society

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This article appears in the following collection:

The Work of Stephen Hawking in Physical Review

To mark the passing of Stephen Hawking, we gathered together his 55 papers in Physical Review D and Physical Review Letters. They probe the edges of space and time, from "Black holes and thermodynamics” to "Wave function of the Universe."

Authors & Affiliations

S. W. Hawking1 and Thomas Hertog2

  • 1DAMTP, University of Cambridge, Wilberforce Road, Cambridge CB3 0WA, UK
  • 2Physics Department, Theory Division, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland

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Issue

Vol. 73, Iss. 12 — 15 June 2006

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