Preventing singularities in the Einstein-Cartan cosmology

The singularity in expanding cosmological models is an undesirable consequence of general relativity. It may be removed in the Einstein-Cartan theory of gravitation which is an extension of general relativity (''general relativity with spin''). In the Einstein-Cartan theory there appears a characteristic spin-spin interaction which counteracts the contraction of matter above a certain critical density, and thus prevents any singularity. Generalizations of homogeneous cosmological models may contain either locally aligned spins (along an asymmetry axis) or randomly distributed spins (and then only the mean spin density square is macroscopically meaningful). In both cases the singularity can be removed, if only the spin density does increase at a sufficiently fast rate with the contraction of matter. (author)