M-theory cosmologies from singular Calabi-Yau compactifications -: art. no. 012

We study five-dimensional Kasner cosmologies in a time-dependent Calabi - Yau compactification of M-theory undergoing a flop transition. The dynamics of the additional states, which become massless at the transition point and give rise to a scalar potential, are taken into account using a recently constructed gauged supergravity action. Due to the dynamics of these states the moduli do not show the usual run-away behaviour but oscillate around the transition region. Moreover, the solutions typically exhibit short periods of accelerated expansion. We also analyse the interplay between the geometries of moduli space and spacetime.