Speaker
Prof.
Kostas Skenderis
(University of Southampton)
Description
I will present holographic models for the very early Universe,
the period usually associated with inflation, and compare the
predictions of these models against Planck 2015 data. Within
the holographic framework the early Universe is described by
a three dimensional QFT. Conventional inflation is included in
this framework as strong coupled QFT while qualitatively new
models arise when the QFT has weak or intermediate
coupling. The weakly coupled models describe a very
quantum early Universe and it turns out that these models fit
the Planck data remarkably well, providing an alternative to
LambdaCDM. Observations can be used to exclude some QFT
models, while we also find models satisfying all
phenomenological constraints: the data rules out the dual
theory being Yang-Mills theory coupled to fermions only, but
allows for Yang-Mills theory coupled to non-minimal scalars
with quartic interactions.