English

DeWitt boundary condition is consistent in Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz quantum gravity

General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology 2022-08-08 v2 Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics High Energy Physics - Theory

Abstract

In quantum cosmology the DeWitt boundary condition is a proposal to set the wave function of the universe to vanish at the classical big-bang singularity. In this Letter, we show that in many gravitational theories including general relativity, the DeWitt wave function does not take a desired form once tensor perturbations around a homogeneous and isotropic closed universe are taken into account: anisotropies and inhomogeneities due to the perturbations are not suppressed near the classical singularity. We then show that Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz gravity provides a satisfactory DeWitt wave function. In particular, in the limit of z=3z=3 anisotropic scaling, we find an exact analytic expression for the DeWitt wave function of the universe with scale-invariant perturbations. In general cases with relevant deformations, we show that the DeWitt wave function can be systematically expanded around the classical big-bang singularity with perturbations under control.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2111.00665,
  title  = {DeWitt boundary condition is consistent in Ho\v{r}ava-Lifshitz quantum gravity},
  author = {Hiroki Matsui and Shinji Mukohyama and Atsushi Naruko},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2111.00665},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

7 pages, v2: final published version

R2 v1 2026-06-24T07:20:11.974Z