TACHYON CONDENSATES AND STRING THEORETIC INFLATION

Cosmological solutions of the beta function equations for background fields of the closed bosonic string are investigated at the one-loop level. Following recent work of Kostelecky and Perry, it is assumed that the spatial sections of the space-time are conformally flat. Working in the sigma-model frame, the nontrivial tachyon potential is utilized to determine solutions with sufficient inflation to solve the smoothness and flatness problems. The graceful exit and density perturbation constraints can also be successfully implemented.