The effect of higher-order curvature terms on string quantum cosmology

Several new results regarding the quantum cosmology of higher-order gravity theories derived from superstring effective actions are presented. After describing techniques for solving the Wheeler-DeWitt equation with appropriate boundary conditions, it is shown that this quantum cosmological model may be compared with semiclassical theories of inflationary cosmology. In particular, it should be possible to compute corrections to the standard inflationary model perturbatively about a stable exponentially expanding classical background. (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V. MSC: 83C45: 83E30; 83F05.