【内容简介】This volume is the only monograph covering the exciting and dazzling recent developments in quantum cosmology, including the theory of the multiverse and eternal inflation pioneered by A Vilenkin, A Linde, S W Hawking, and others. Written by a leading expert in the field known for his depth and clarity of presentation, the volume presents an overview of 20 years of development of the theory of eternal inflation as well as a comprehensive, research-level introduction into the current methods and problems. This volume is invaluable for researchers as a definitive reference in the rapidly developing field. Written in a self-contained manner with detailed mathematical derivations of the results, graduate students will also find it a readable and useful textbook for self-study.
【目次】Preface vii
Acknowledgments xi List of Figures xvii
Introduction 1 (6)
Inflationary Cosmology 7 (12)
The inflationary paradigm 9 (1)
Slow-roll inflation and attractors 10 (9)
Eternal Inflation 19 (16)
Predictions in eternal inflation 26 (4)
Physical justifications of the 30 (5)
semiclassical picture Stochastic Approach to Inflation 35 (46)
Eternal inflation of random walk type 35 (27)
Fokker-Planck equations: Comoving 38 (4)
distribution Volume-weighted distribution 42 (2)
Gauge dependence issues 44 (5)
Interpretation of FP equations 49 (2)
Methods of solution; approximations 51 (11)
Presence of eternal inflation 62 (19)
A nonlinear diffusion equation 68 (4)
The existence of solutions of nonlinear 72 (3)
equations Proof of the sufficient condition 75 (6)
Models with Bubble Nucleation 81 (6)
The Measure Problem and Proposed Solutions 87 (18)
Observer-based measures 87 (5)
Regularization for a single reheating 92 (7)
surface Regularization for multiple types of 99 (3)
reheating surfaces Youngness paradox and ``Boltzmann brains'' 102 (3)
The RV Measure: First Look 105 (12)
Reheating-volume cutoff 109 (3)
RV cutoff in slow-roll inflation 112 (5)
The RV Measure for Random-Walk Inflation 117 (34)
Preliminary results 117 (5) Overview of the results 122 (7)
Preliminaries 122 (2)
Finitely produced volume 124 (1)
Asymptotics of ρ(ν;&phis;0) 125 (2)
Distribution of a fluctuating field 127 (1)
Toy model of inflation 128 (1)
Derivations 129 (22)
Derivation of the equation for g 129 (3)
Singularities of g(z) 132 (7)
FPRV distribution of a field Q 139 (4)
Calculations for an inflationary model 143 (8)
The RV Measure for the Landscape 151 (48)
Regulating the number of terminal bubbles 154 (7)
Regulating the total number of bubbles 161 (2)
A toy landscape 163 (14)
Bubble abundances 164 (11)
``Boltzmann brains'' 175 (2)
A general landscape 177 (22)
Bubble abundances 178 (6)
Example landscape 184 (5)
``Boltzmann brains'' 189 (2)
Derivation of Eq. (9.103) 191 (2)
Eigenvalues of M(z) 193 (4)
The root of λ0(z) 197 (2)
Conclusion 199 (4)
Bibliography 203 (14)
Index 217