Related papers: Loop Quantum Cosmology: An Overview
Loop quantum cosmology is a tentative approach to model the universe down to the Planck era where quantum gravity settings are needed. The quantization of the universe as a dynamical space-time is inspired by Loop Quantum Gravity ideas. In…
The goal of this report is to provide an up to date account of results on the quantum nature of the big bang, obtained in loop quantum cosmology. They suggest a radical modification of the paradigm provided by general relativity for the…
Advantages of inhomogeneous cosmological models that are exact solutions of Einstein's equations over linearised perturbations of homogeneous models are presented. Examples of effects that can be described in the inhomogeneous ones are…
The era of precision cosmology has allowed us to accurately determine many important cosmological parameters, in particular via the CMB. Confronting Loop Quantum Cosmology with these observations provides us with a powerful test of the…
It is shown that the cosmological singularity in isotropic minisuperspaces is naturally removed by quantum geometry. Already at the kinematical level, this is indicated by the fact that the inverse scale factor is represented by a bounded…
We quantize an inhomogeneous cosmological model using techniques that include polymeric quantization. More explicitly, we construct well defined operators to represent the constraints and find the physical Hilbert space formed by their…
Following the idea of a field quantization of gravity as realized in group field theory, we construct a minisuperspace model where the wavefunction of canonical quantum cosmology (either Wheeler-DeWitt or loop quantum cosmology) is promoted…
In the framework of Loop Quantum Cosmology, inhomogeneous models are usually quantized by means of a hybrid approach that combines loop quantization techniques with standard quantum field theory methods. This approach is based on a…
For pure fourth order (${\cal{L}} \propto R^2$) quantum cosmology the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is solved exactly for the closed homogeneous and isotropic model. It is shown that by imposing as boundary condition that $\Psi = 0$ at the origin…
An improved Hamiltonian constraint operator is introduced in loop quantum cosmology. Quantum dynamics of the spatially flat, isotropic model with a massless scalar field is then studied in detail using analytical and numerical methods. The…
Quantum gravity is sometimes considered as a kind of metaphysical speculation. In this review, we show that, although still extremely difficult to reach, observational signatures can in fact be expected. The early universe is an invaluable…
An outstanding open issue in our quest for physics beyond Einstein is the unification of general relativity (GR) and quantum physics. Loop quantum gravity (LQG) is a leading approach toward this goal. At its heart is the central lesson of…
The quantum evolution equation of Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) -- the quantum Hamiltonian constraint -- is a difference equation. We relate the LQC constraint equation in vacuum Bianchi I separable (locally rotationally symmetric) models…
These notes are a didactic overview of the non perturbative and background independent approach to a quantum theory of gravity known as loop quantum gravity. The definition of real connection variables for general relativity, used as a…
Quantum cosmology may restrict the class of gauge models which unify electroweak and strong interactions. In particular, if one studies the normalizability criterion for the one-loop wave function of the universe in a de Sitter background…
The existence of a quantum bounce in isotropic spacetimes is a key result in loop quantum cosmology (LQC), which has been demonstrated to arise in all the models studied so far. In most of the models, the bounce has been studied using…
Bridging between descriptions involving few large and many small quantum numbers is the main open problem in loop quantum gravity. In other words, one would like to be able to represent the same physical system in terms of a few "coarse"'…
We present results concerning the nature of the cosmological big bounce(BB) transition within the loop geometry underlying loop quantum cosmology (LQC). Our canonical quantization method is an alternative to the standard LQC. An evolution…
These lecture notes introduce the reader to the hot big bang model, cosmological perturbations, gravitational waves, the cosmic microwave background, inflation, the singularity problem, the cosmological constant problem and the cosmology of…
Building upon our recently established correspondence between quantum cosmology and the hydrogen atom [1], we investigate the specific sector of a negative cosmological constant ($\Lambda < 0$) in a flat FLRW universe with dust. While the…