A new look at scalar perturbations in loop quantum cosmology: (un)deformed algebra approach using self dual variables

Scalar cosmological perturbations in loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is revisited in a covariant manner, using self dual Ashtekar variables. For real-valued Ashtekar-Barbero variables, this `deformed algebra' approach has been shown to implement holonomy corrections from loop quantum gravity (LQG) in a consistent manner, albeit deforming the algebra of modified constraints in the process. This deformation has serious conceptual ramifications, not the least of them being an effective `signature-change' in the deep quantum regime. In this paper, we show that working with self dual variables lead to an undeformed algebra of hypersurface deformations, even after including holonomy corrections in the effective constraints. As a necessary consequence, the diffeomorphism constraint picks up non-perturbative quantum corrections thus hinting at a modification of the underlying space-time structure, a novel ingredient compared to the usual treatment of (spatial) diffeomorphisms in LQG. This work extends a similar result obtained in the context of spherically symmetric gravity coupled to a scalar field, suggesting that self dual variables could be better suited than their real counterparts to treat inhomogeneous LQG models.