Spacelike Singularities and String Theory

Emil Martinec

Published 1994-12-08, updated 1994-12-21Version 2

An interpretation of spacelike singularities in string theory uses target space duality to relate the collapsing Schwarzschild geometry near the singularity to an inflationary cosmology in dual variables. An appealing picture thus results whereby gravitational collapse seeds the formation of a new universe.