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Dual Space-Time and Nonsingular

Robert Brandenberger,1, ∗ Renato Costa,2, † Guilherme Franzmann,1, ‡ and Amanda Weltman2, § 1Physics Department, McGill University, Montreal, QC, H3A 2T8, Canada 2Cosmology and Gravity Group, Dept. of Mathematics and Applied Mathematics, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7700, South Africa (Dated: May 17, 2018) Making use of the T-duality symmetry of , and of the double geometry from Double Field Theory, we argue that cosmological singularities of a homogeneous and isotropic uni- verse disappear. In fact, an apparent singularity in Einstein gravity corresponds to a expanding to infinite size in the dual dimensions.

I. INTRODUCTION ogy. The exit from the Hagedorn phase is smooth and is a consequence of the decay of string winding modes into string loops1. The transition leads directly to the radia- The singularities which arise at the beginning of time tion phase of Strandard Big Bang cosmology (see [11] for in both standard and inflationary cosmology indicate reviews of the String Gas Cosmology scenario). that the theories which are being used in cosmology break down as the singularity is approached. If space-time is If strings in the Hagedorn phase are in thermal equi- described by Einstein gravity and matter obeys energy librium, then the thermal fluctuations of the energy- conditions which are natural from the point of view of momentum tensor can be computed using the methods point particle theories, then singularities in homogeneous of [12]. In particular, it can be shown that in a compact and isotropic cosmology are unavoidable [1]. These the- space with stable winding modes the specific heat capac- orems in fact extend to inflationary cosmology [2–4]. ity has holographic scaling as a function of the radius of But we know that Einstein gravity coupled to point the volume being considered. As a consequence [13, 14], particle matter cannot be the correct description of na- thermal fluctuations of strings in the Hagedorn phase ture. The quantum structure of matter is not consis- lead to a scale-invariant spectrum of cosmological pertur- tent with a classical description of space-time. The early bations at late times, with a slight red tilt like what is pre- universe needs to be described by a theory which can dicted [15] in inflationary cosmology. If the string scale is unify space-time and matter at a quantum level. Su- comparable to the scale of particle physics Grand Unifica- perstring theory (see e.g. [5,6] for a detailed overview) tion the predicted amplitude of the fluctuations matches is a promising candidate for a quantum theory of all the observations well (see [16] for recent observational re- four forces of nature. At least at the string perturbative sults). Hence, String Gas Cosmology provides an alter- level, the building blocks of are fundamental native to cosmological inflation as a theory for the origin strings. Strings have degrees of freedom and new sym- of structure in the Universe. The predicted spectrum metries which point particle theories do not have, and of gravitational waves [17] is also scale-invariant, but a these features may lead to a radically different picture of slight blue tilt is predicted, in contrast to the prediction the very early universe, as discussed many years ago in in standard inflationary cosmology. This is a prediction [7] (see also [8]). by means of which the scenario can be distinguished from standard inflation (meaning inflation in Einstein gravity As discussed in [7], string thermodynamic considera- driven by a matter field obeying the usual energy con- tions indicate that the the cosmological evolution in the ditions). A simple modelling of the transition between context of string theory should be nonsingular. A key re- the Hagedorn phase and the radiation phase leads to a alization is that the temperature of a gas of closed string running of the spectrum which is parametrically larger arXiv:1805.06321v1 [hep-th] 15 May 2018 in thermal equilibrium cannot exceed a limiting value, than what is obtained in simple inflationary models [18]. the Hagedorn temperature [9]. In fact, as reviewed in the following section, the temperature of a gas of closed In this paper, we will study the cosmological back- strings in a box of radius R decreases as R becomes much ground dynamics which follow from string theory if the smaller than the string length. If the entropy of the string target space has stable winding modes. An example gas is large, then the range of values of R for which the where this is the case is a spatial torus. We will argue temperature is close to the Hagedorn temperature TH is that from the point of view of string theory the dynamics large. This is called the Hagedorn phase of string cosmol- is non-singular.

∗Electronic address: [email protected] 1 This mechanism suggests that exactly three spatial dimensions †Electronic address: [email protected] can become large [7], the others being confined to the string ‡Electronic address: [email protected] length by the interaction of the string winding and momentum §Electronic address: [email protected] modes [10]. 2

II. DUAL SPACE FROM T-DUALITY As was argued in [7], in String Gas Cosmology the temperature singularity of the Big Bang is automatically For simplicity let us assume that space is toroidal with resolved. If we imagine the radius R(t) decreasing from d = 9 spatial dimensions, all of radius R. Closed strings some initially very large value (large compared to the then have momentum modes whose energies are quan- string length), and matter is taken to be a gas of super- tized in units of 1/R strings, then the temperature T will initially increase, since for large values of R most of the energy of the n system is in the light modes, which are the momentum En = , (1) R modes, and the energy of these modes increases as R de- where n is an integer. They also have winding modes creases. Before T reaches the maximal temperature TH , whose energies are quantized in units of R, i.e. the increase in T levels off since the energy can now go into producing oscillatory modes. For R < 1 (in string Em = mR , (2) units) the energy will flow into the winding modes which are now the light modes. Hence, where m is an integer and we are working in units where  1  the string length is one. Strings also have a tower of T (R) = T . (7) oscillatory modes whose energies are independent of R. R The number of oscillatory modes increases exponentially A sketch of the temperature evolution as a function of with energy. R is shown in Figure 1. As a function of ln R the curve It follows from (1) and (2) that the spectrum of string is symmetric as a reflection of the symmetry (7). The states is invariant under the T-duality transformation region of R when the temperature is close to TH and the curve in Fig. 1 is approximately horizontal is called the 1 R → (3) “Hagedorn phase”. Its extent is determined by the total R entropy of the system [7]. if the momentum and winding numbers are interchanged. The transformation (3) is also a symmetry of the string T interactions, and is assumed to be a symmetry of string theory beyond (see e.g. [6])2. T H As is well known, the position eigenstates |xi are dual to momentum eigenstates |pi. In a compact space, the momenta are discrete, labelled by integers n, and hence X |xi = einx|ni . (4) n where |ni is the momentum eigenstate with momentum quantum number n. As already discussed in [7], in our string theory setting, windings are T-dual to momenta, 0 and we can define a T-dual position operator 0 ln R X |x˜i = eimx˜|mi , (5) FIG. 1: T versus log R for type II superstrings. Different m curves are obtained for different entropy values, which is fixed. The larger the entropy the larger the plateau, given by the where |mi are the eigenstates of winding, labelled by an Hagedorn temperature. For R = 1 we have the self-dual point. integer m. As again argued in [7], experimentalists will measure physical length in terms of the position operators which are the lightest. Thus, for R > 1 (in string units), it is the III. COSMOLOGICAL DYNAMICS AND DUAL regular position operators |xi which determine physical SPACE-TIME length, whereas for R < 1 it is the dual variables |x˜i. Hence, the physical length lp(R) is given by In the following we will couple a gas of strings to a background appropriate to string theory. Since the mass- l(R) = R for R  1 , (6) less modes of string theory include, in addition to the 1 l(R) = for R  1 . , the and an antisymmetric tensor field, R a cosmological background will contain the metric, the dilaton and the antisymmetric tensor field. For a ho- mogeneous and isotropic cosmology the metric can be written as 2 See also [19] for an extended discussion of T-duality when are added. ds2 = −dt2 + a(t)2dx2 , (8) 3 where t is physical time, a(t) is the cosmological scale of β. For this equation of state, the continuity equation factor and x are comoving spatial coordinates. We have for string gas matter can be integrated and yields assumed vanishing spatial curvature for simplicity. We ρ a 2   a    a  denote the dilaton by φ(t). ln = − d ln − ln arctan β ln The T-duality symmetry of string theory leads to an ρ0 a0 π a0 a0 important symmetry of the massless background fields, ( " 2#) 2 1  a  the scale factor duality [20]. In the absence of an anti- − ln 1 + β2 ln , (16) symmetric tensor field these take the form π 2β a0

1 where ρ0 is the energy density at the string length. This a(t) → (9) a result reproduces what is expected for large and small φ¯(t) → φ¯(t) radii, −(d+1) where the T-duality invariant combination of the scale ρ (a large) → ρ0 (a/a0) (17) −(d−1) factor and the dilaton is ρ (a small) → ρ0 (a/a0) . (18)

φ¯ ≡ φ − dlna , (10) for pure momentum or pure winding modes, respectively. At this point we have a system of background and mat- where d = D − 1 is the number of spatial dimensions and ter in which both components have the same symmetries. D the number of space-time dimensions. We now turn to an exploration of solutions. Following The background equations of motion are those of dila- closely [20], we make the ansatz ton gravity (we will neglect the antisymmetric tensor field). In the absence of matter, these equations were  t α a(t) ∼ (19) studied in detailed in the context of Pre-Big-Bang cos- t0 mology [20]. In the presence of string matter, they have  t  been analyzed in [21]. The equations in the presence of a φ¯(t) ∼ −β ln , gas of matter described by energy density ρ and pressure t0 p are where α and β are constants, and t0 is a reference time.  2 Inserting into the dilaton gravity equations gives the fol- φ˙ − dH − dH2 = eφρ (11) lowing constraints on the constants   1 H˙ − H φ˙ − dH = eφp (12) (D − 1) wα + β = 2 (20) 2 2 2    2 β + (D − 1) α = 2β . 2 φ¨ − dH˙ − φ˙ − dH − dH2 = 0 , (13) Deep in the Hagedorn phase when w = 0 we get where H ≡ a/a˙ . These are the equations in the string (α, β) = (0, 2) . (21) frame. In particular, we can combine these equations to write a continuity equation, This corresponds to a static scale factor in the string frame. Converting to the Einstein frame in which the scale factora ˜(t) is given by ρ˙ + (D − 1)H(ρ + p) = 0. (14) a˜(t) = a(t)e−φ/(d−1) (22) We consider matter to be a gas of strings. For R  1 most of the energy is in the momentum modes which act we find as radiation and hence have an equation of state param- eter w ≡ p/ρ given by w = 1/d. For R  1, however,  t 2/(d−1) most of the energy density is in the winding modes whose a˜(t) ∼ . (23) t0 equation of state parameter is w = −1/d. Finally, for R = 1 the equation of state is w = 0. An interpolating In the large a phase when w = 1/d we get form of the matter equation of state is  2 2  2   a  (α, β) = , (D − 1) . (24) w (a) = arctan βln , (15) D D πd a0 In this case, the dilaton is constant and hence the string where a0 is the value of the scale factor when R = 1, and frame and Einstein frame scale factors are the same. As β is a constant which depends on the total entropy of the expected, the scale factor evolves as in a standard radi- gas. The larger the entropy is, the wider the Hagedorn ation dominated universe. There is a second solution of phase as a function of a, and hence the smaller the value (20), but that solution is consistent only for p = 0. 4

When w = −1/d we have decreasing. This means that the radius of the torus R is decreasing, and it soon becomes energetically preferable  2 2  (α, β) = − , (D − 1) . (25) for the energy of the string gas to drift to the winding D D modes, leading to an equation of state w = −1/d. In the winding phase the Einstein frame scale factor is still The string frame scale factor is expanding as we go back- decreasing, which is a self-consistency check on the as- wards in time. Translating to the Einstein frame we get sumption that the energy of the string gas is mostly in the winding modes3.  t 2/(d−1) a˜(t) ∼ . (26) We see that in the string frame, there is no curvature t0 singularity. As the coordinate time t runs from t = 0 to t = ∞, the scale factor is initially contracting, bounces In the Einstein frame, the scale factor vanishes at t = 0 in the Hagedorn phase and expands afterwards in the while in the string frame it blows up in this limit. radiation phase, as showed schematically in Fig. 2. Following [22], we argue that in the phase dominated by winding modes we should measure time in terms of the dual time variable t2 t ≡ − c (27) d t

where tc corresponds to the coordinate time at the center of the Hagedorn phase. In terms of td, the solution looks like a contracting universe. From the point of view of the Einstein frame, the scale factor vanishes at t = 0. But from the point of view of a detector made up of winding modes, the measured scale factor is proportional to a(t)−1. Hence, the time interval 0 < t < tc corresponds to a contracting universe in terms of the dual position basis. Heuristically, there are two simple reasons for introduc- ing a dual time coordinate. Let us consider for simplicity a fixed dilaton, so that we have a radiation solution. It is clear that there is an asymmetry between large and small scale factor, since the proper time for the scale factor to go to infinity diverges, while it is finite when the scale factor decreases to zero from some finite value. However, from the point of view of T-duality we should not be able to distinguish between a large and a small universe. This is the first hint towards a more general definition of the physical clock, tp. Another qualitative argument follows from special rel- ativity considerations brought together with T-duality. For a large radius, rods are made out of momentum modes, and time measurements for a given physical FIG. 2: The schematic solution for the scale factor in the length, ∆x, are given by String and Einstein frames for D = 4. Note that the transi- tion between the winding and momenta equation of state has |∆t| = |∆x| , (28) been smoothed out, as it is expected if (15) is considered. where the speed of light has been set to unit. If the universe is composed of closed strings, in principle we Let us track the dynamics backwards in time, begin- could have considered measuring physical length in terms ning with a large torus (R  1). The energy will hence of winding modes as well, and the natural rods built out be in the momentum modes and the equation of state of these modes are related to the physical length by is that of radiation. As we go back in time, the scale 0 α 2 factor decreases (it is the same in the two frames), the ∆˜x → , (29) energy density increases, and eventually the temperature ∆x approaches the Hagedorn value at which point oscillatory and winding modes of the string gas get excited, leading to a transition to an equation of state with p = 0. We en- 3 If we do not allow momentum and winding modes to decay, then, ter a Hagedorn phase during which the string frame scale as studied in [21], we obtain solutions where the string frame factor is constant while the Einstein frame scale factor is scale factor oscillates about a0. 5

0 where α is the string tension. Thus, we can rewrite (28) as,

0 α 2

|∆˜x| → . (30) ∆t Now, if we cannot distinguish large from small, we could have started the argument using winding modes instead, so that we would write the following relation4,

|∆˜x| = ∆t˜ . (31) Thus, it is also natural to propose a winding-clock that is dual to the momentum-clock by combining the above formulae, FIG. 3: The scale factor goes to zero only at tp → −∞. Similarly its inverse goes to zero when tp → ∞. 0 α 2 ˜ ∆t → . (32) ∆t the dilaton in the presence of string gas matter sources. Evidently, physically speaking there is only a single Both the background action and the matter action are clock. When only winding or momentum modes are light, consistent with the T-duality symmetry of string theory. the existence of a unique time coordinate is already clear. While we do not expect our description to be adequate Around the self-dual point, when both modes are energet- in the high density phase when truly stringy effects must ically favorable, that should also be the case. Therefore, be considered, our analysis is an improvement over the we need a prescription to reduce both time coordinates usual effective field theory of string cosmology where the to a single physical time. We call this prescription phys- underlying background geometry is not covariant with ical clock constraint and it is given by the identification the T-duality symmetry. (27). We find that the solutions are nonsingular, at least These ideas likely have a very natural interpretation when interpreted in the context of double space-time. in terms of Double Field Theory [23] (see also [24] for We conjecture that an improved description could be ob- some early work). Double Field Theory is a generaliza- tained using the tools of Double Field Theory5. tion of which lives in 2d spatial dimensions, with the first d dimensions corresponding to the usual x variables, and the second d dimensions to the dual spatial variablesx ˜. In Double Field Theory there is a generalized Acknowledgement metric which for homogeneous and isotropic cosmology and in the absence of an antisymmetric tensor field is given by This research is supported by the IRC - South Africa - Canada Research Chairs Mobility Initiative Grant No. 2 2 2 i j −2 ij ds = −dt + a (t)δijdx dx + a (t)δ dx˜idx˜j . (33) 109684. The research at McGill is also supported in part by funds from NSERC and from the Canada Research The determinant of the generalized metric is one. As Chair program. Two of us (RB and GF) wish to thank space shrinks in the x directions, it opens up in thex ˜ the Banff International Research Station for hosting a directions. This is sketched in Fig. 3. In work in progress very stimulating workshop “String and M-theory Geome- [25] we are exploring this connection in more detail, in tries: Double Field Theory, Exceptional Field Theory particular using the O(D,D)-formalism for formalizing and their Applications” during which some of the ideas the introduction of a dual time, and discussing how the presented here were developed. GF acknowledges finan- physical clock constraint can be seen analogously to the cial support from CNPq (Science Without Borders) and imposition of the section condition in DFT for the dual PBEEE/Quebec Merit Scholarship. GF also wishes to coordinates [26]. thank the University of Cape Town where most of this work was developed. R.C. acknowledges financial sup- port by the SARChI NRF grantholder. A. W. grate- IV. DISCUSSION fully acknowledges financial support from the Depart- ment of Science and Technology and South African Re- We have studied the equations of motion of a cosmo- search Chairs Initiative of the NRF. logical background containing the scale factor a(t) and 6

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