String theory and primordial cosmology
  String cosmology aims at providing a reliable description of the very early
Universe in the regime where standard-model physics is no longer appropriate,
and where we can safely apply the basic ingredients of superstring models such
as dilatonic and axionic forces, duality symmetries, winding modes, limiting
sizes and curvatures, higher-dimensional interactions among elementary extended
object. The sought target is that of resolving (or at least alleviating) the
big problems of standard and inflationary cosmology like the spacetime
singularity, the physics of the trans-Planckian regime, the initial condition
for inflation, and so on.
