Dilaton stabilization in string cosmology. I

A new mechanism is proposed for stabilization of the scalar dilaton field within the framework of lowenergy string gravitation with loop corrections to the dilaton coupling functions. It is based on the assumption that the loop corrections generate a kinetic dilaton function, which is singular for some finite value of the dilaton field. For a nongravitational source of the barotropic type, the system of equations describing the evolution of homogeneous and isotropic cosmological models is represented in the form of a thirdorder, autonomous, dynamical system. The behavior of the general solution in the vicinity of singularities of the dilaton coupling function is investigated by methods of the qualitative theory of dynamical systems. It is shown that there is a class of solutions, different from solutions of the general theory of relativity, with a constant dilaton. The conditions under which these solutions are an attractor for a general solution with a variable dilaton are determined. Translated from Astrofizika, Vol. 43, No. 1, pp. 123-136, January–March, 2000.