Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology

Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2020

Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Kraj, Megan C.
Other Authors: David I. Kaiser.
Format: Thesis
Language:eng
Published: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 2020
Subjects:
Online Access:https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127088
_version_ 1826214787980197888
author Kraj, Megan C.
author2 David I. Kaiser.
author_facet David I. Kaiser.
Kraj, Megan C.
author_sort Kraj, Megan C.
collection MIT
description Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2020
first_indexed 2024-09-23T16:11:08Z
format Thesis
id mit-1721.1/127088
institution Massachusetts Institute of Technology
language eng
last_indexed 2024-09-23T16:11:08Z
publishDate 2020
publisher Massachusetts Institute of Technology
record_format dspace
spelling mit-1721.1/1270882020-09-04T03:03:17Z Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology Kraj, Megan C. David I. Kaiser. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics. Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Physics Physics. Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics, 2020 Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis. Includes bibliographical references (pages 150-151). The aim of this thesis is to investigate and present an overview of inflationary theory. As part of this effort, the main motivations for cosmic inflation, which are known as problems in the standard big bang scenario, are reviewed. These problems are the "flatness problem", "horizon problem", and the "monopole problem." Analysis of inflation caused by a single scalar field rolling on a scalar potential is considered. This enables the introduction of the "slow-roll parameters" and their application. Since supersymmetry is considered a candidate beyond the standard model theory, we explore the connection between supersymmetry and the early universe. In order to incorporate gravity at energy scales of the early universe, supergravity is examined as well. Having considered inflation in the context of supersymmetry and supergravity, it is therefore natural to present the role of string theory in inflationary model building. As a result, axion monodromy is considered. Representative models are compared to analysis of precision measurements of the cosmic microwave background radiation. This comparison is achieved using observable derived constraints of the spectral index and tensor to scalar ratio. by Megan C. Kralj. S.B. S.B. Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Physics 2020-09-03T17:46:22Z 2020-09-03T17:46:22Z 2020 2020 Thesis https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127088 1191824257 eng MIT theses may be protected by copyright. Please reuse MIT thesis content according to the MIT Libraries Permissions Policy, which is available through the URL provided. http://dspace.mit.edu/handle/1721.1/7582 151 pages application/pdf Massachusetts Institute of Technology
spellingShingle Physics.
Kraj, Megan C.
Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology
title Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology
title_full Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology
title_fullStr Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology
title_full_unstemmed Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology
title_short Supersymmetry, supergravity, and String Theory based inflationary cosmology
title_sort supersymmetry supergravity and string theory based inflationary cosmology
topic Physics.
url https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127088
work_keys_str_mv AT krajmeganc supersymmetrysupergravityandstringtheorybasedinflationarycosmology