MC
5417
Candidate
Hyungjin Kim
Applied
Mathematics,
University
of
Waterloo
Title
The Early Universe: New aspects of Cuscuton Theory, Modified Dispersion Relations and Pulsar Constraints on Vacuum Noise
Abstract
The modern cosmology started blossoming in the early 1900s, with the theoretical framework provided by Einstein's general relativity. Soon after that, with observational discoveries such as Hubble's or the CMB, many hypotheses and postulations were made to reconcile the observational data and the theoretical frameworks, and to answer open questions in the field. One of the most accepted theories is the inflationary cosmology, in which the universe goes under a phase of accelerated expansion. In this thesis, the theoretical frameworks and the mathematical tools to understand the modern cosmology will be introduced, along with a brief review of inflation. From there, we will study examples of modifications and corrections to the current framework as approaches to address unanswered questions, and what the current problems' implications to the observational data can be.