Informal Pizza Seminar

Cosmological Signals From the End of Brane Inflation

Louis Leblond

Texas A&M

A common feature of many string inspired models of inflation is that the inflationary era ends abruptly by tachyon condensation. In this talk, I will discuss some possible phenomenological consequences of this type of exit from inflation. These include the possibility of generating density perturbations (with a non-Gaussian spectrum) that could be observed in the CMB as well as leftover cosmic strings (with new properties) that can be observed in various ways.