Aspects of Cosmology from particle physics beyond the Standard Model

The interface of Cosmology and High Energy physics is a forefront area of research which is constantly undergoing development. This thesis makes various contributions to this endeavor. String-inspired cosmology is the subject of the first part of the thesis, where we propose both a new inflationary and a new alternative cosmological model. The second part of the thesis concentrates on the problems of integrating cosmology with particle physics beyond the Standard Model.;Making use of similar ideas, we propose a not-fine-tuned model of brane inflation. In this scenario the brane separation, playing the role of the inflaton, is the same as the overall volume modulus. The bulk matter provides an initial expansion phase which drives the inflaton up its potential, so that the conditions for inflation are realized. The specific choice of the inflationary potential nicely fits the cosmological observations.;Another aspect of this research concentrates on the cosmological moduli problem: namely, the existence of weakly coupled particles those decay is late enough to interfere with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. As a solution, we suggest parametric and tachyonic resonances to shorten the decay time. Even heavy moduli are dangerous for cosmology if they cause the overproduction of gravitinos. We find that tachyonic decay channels help to transfer most of the energy of these dangerous moduli into a scalar sector, preventing the excess gravitino abundance.;Inspired by new opportunities due to stringy degrees of freedom, we propose a non-inflationary resolution of the entropy and horizon problems. In this string-inspired scenario, 'our' dimensions expand while the extra dimensions first expand and then contract, before eventually stabilizing. The equation of state of the bulk matter (which consists of branes) is negative. Hence, there is a net gain in the total energy of the universe during the pre-stabilization phase. At the end of this phase, the energy stored in the branes is converted into radiation. The result is a large and dense 3-dimensional universe.