From pre- to post-big bang: an (almost) self-dual cosmological history
  We present a short introduction to a non-standard cosmological scenario
motivated by the duality symmetries of string theory, in which the big bang
singularity is replaced with a "big bounce" at high but finite curvature. The
bouncing epoch is prepared by a long (possibly infinitely extended) phase of
cosmic evolution, starting from an initial state asymptotically approaching the
string perturbative vacuum.
