Abstract. We present several higher-dimensional spacetimes for which observers living on 3-branes experience an induced metric which bounces. The classes of examples include boundary branes on generalized S-brane backgrounds and probe branes in D-brane/anti-D-brane systems. The bounces we consider normally would be expected to require an energy density which violates the weak energy condition, and for our codimension-one examples this is attributable to bulk curvature terms in the effective Friedmann equation. We examine the features of the acceleration which provides the bounce, including in some cases the existence of positive acceleration without event horizons, and we give a geometrical interpretation for it. We discuss the stability of the solutions from the point of view of both the brane and the bulk. Some of our examples appear to be stable from the bulk point of view, suggesting the possible existence of stable bouncing cosmologies within the brane-world framework.

Key words: cosmology with extra dimensions; extra dimensions; string theory and cosmology

Received 4 November 2003, accepted for publication 19 January 2004
Published 16 February 2004