Graceful exit and energy conditions in string cosmology

String cosmology solutions are examined in a generalized phase-space including sources representing arbitrary corrections to lowest order string-dilaton-gravity effective action. We find a set of necessary conditions for a graceful exit transition from a dilaton-driven inflationary phase to a radiation dominated era. We show that sources allowing such a transition have to violate energy conditions similar to those appearing in singularity theorems of general relativity. Since familiar classical sources, excepting spatial curvature, obey these energy conditions we conclude that a generic graceful. exit in string cosmology requires a new effective phase of matter. Our results clarify and generalize previous analyses and enable us to critically reexamine proposed non-singular cosmologies. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.