The “bubble universes” of Coleman and De Luccia play a crucial role in string cosmology. Since our own Universe is supposed to be of this kind, bubble cosmology should supply definite answers to the long-standing questions regarding cosmological initial conditions. In particular, it must explain how an initial singularity is avoided, and also how the initial conditions for inflation were established. I argue that the simplest nonanthropic approach to these problems involves a requirement that the spatial sections defined by distinguished bubble observers should not be allowed to have arbitrarily small volumes. Casimir energy is a popular candidate for a quantum effect which can ensure this, but (because it violates energy conditions) there is a danger that it could lead to nonperturbative instabilities in string theory. I make a simple proposal for the initial conditions of a bubble universe, and show that my proposal ensures that the system is nonperturbatively stable. Thus, low-entropy conditions can be established at the beginning of a bubble universe without violating the second law of thermodynamics and without leading to instability in string theory. These conditions are inherited from the ambient spacetime.

• Received 6 March 2008

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.77.123530