D-branes and cosmology

D-branes, topological defects in string theory on which string endpoints can live, may give new insight into the understanding of the cosmological evolution of the Universe at early epochs. We analyze the dynamics of D-branes in curved backgrounds and discuss the parameter space of M-theory as a function of the coupling constant and of the curvature of the Universe. We show that D-branes may be efficiently produced by gravitational effects. Furthermore, in curved space-times the transverse fluctuations of the D-branes develop a tachyonic mode and when the fluctuations grow larger than the horizon the branes become tensionless and break up. This signals a transition to a new regime. We discuss the implications of our findings for the singularity problem present in string cosmology, suggesting the existence of a limiting value for the curvature which is in agreement with the value suggested by the cosmological version of the holography principle. We also comment on possible implications for the so-called brane world scenario, where the Standard Model gauge and matter fields live inside some branes while gravitons live in the bulk, (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.