From big bang to big crunch and beyond

Abstract

We study a quotient Conformal Field Theory, which describes a 3 + 1 dimensional cosmological spacetime. Part of this spacetime is the Nappi-Witten (NW) universe, which starts at a "big bang" singularity, expands and then contracts to a "big crunch" singularity at a finite time. The gauged WZW model contains a number of copies of the NW spacetime, with each copy connected to the preceeding one and to the next one at the respective big bang/big crunch singularities. The sequence of NW spacetimes is further connected at the singularities to a series of non-compact static regions with closed timelike curves. These regions contain boundaries, on which the observables of the theory live. This suggests a holographic interpretation of the physics. © SISSA/ISAS 2002.