In this video I go through the different theories which physicists have for how the universe began.

To learn more about inflation and the inflaton field, this is an excellent starting point:

https://arxiv.org/abs/0907.5424​

Here is more about the Ekpyrotic Universe:

https://arxiv.org/abs/hep-th/0103239​

I wrote about Penrose’s Cyclic Cosmology here:

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2018…​

You find more about the idea that universes are born inside black holes in Zeeya Merali’s book:

https://www.amazon.com/Big-Bang-Littl…​

The idea that the universe started from a 4+1 dimensional black hole is explained here:

https://www.nature.com/news/did-a-hyp…​

I have explained the idea of “Asymptotic Silence” here

http://backreaction.blogspot.com/2014…​

Finally, the theory of String Gas Cosmology is from Robert Brandenberger:

https://arxiv.org/abs/0808.0746​