Related papers: Singularity avoidance and time in quantum gravity
We investigate a cosmological model with a big-brake singularity in the future: while the first time derivative of the scale factor goes to zero, its second time derivative tends to minus infinity. Although we also discuss the classical…
We study the polymeric nature of quantum matter fields using the example of a Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker universe sourced by a minimally coupled massless scalar field. The model is treated in the symmetry reduced regime via…
We discuss a model describing exactly a thin spherically symmetric shell of matter with zero rest mass. We derive the reduced formulation of this system in which the variables are embeddings, their conjugate momenta, and Dirac observables.…
The quantization of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker spacetime in the presence of a negative cosmological constant was used in a recent paper to conclude that there are solutions that avoid singularities (big bang--big crunch) at the quantum…
We consider a spatially homogeneous and isotropic system of Dirac particles coupled to classical gravity. The dust and radiation dominated closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker space-times are recovered as limiting cases. We find a mechanism…
Assuming that time exists, a new, effective formulation of gravity is introduced, which lies in between the Wheeler-DeWitt approach and ordinary QFT. Remarkably, the Penrose-Hawking singularity of usual Friedman-Robertson-Walker cosmologies…
The classical and quantum dynamics of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker Universe with massless scalar and massive fermion matter field as a source is discussed in the framework of the Dirac generalized Hamiltonian formalism. The Hamiltonian…
In this article we follow a previously developed theoretical approach, based in the tools of the singular semi-Riemannian geometry, to push the limits of time beyond the primordial spacetime singularity. By complexifying the…
I investigate spacetime singularities from the point of view of the wavefunction of the universe. In order to extend the classical notion of geodesic incompleteness one has to include the proper time of an observer as a degree of freedom in…
We study the quantum cosmology of a flat Friedmann-Lema\^{i}tre-Robertson-Walker universe filled with a (free) massless scalar field and a perfect fluid that represents radiation or a cosmological constant whose value is not fixed by the…
We study if there is an opportunity to describe quantum particles in the vicinity of three types of cosmological singularities, big bang-big crunch, big rip and big brake. Writing down the Dirac equation for spinors, and choosing a…
We present and analyze a gauge-invariant quantum theory of the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with dust. We construct the reduced phase space spanned by gauge-invariant quantities by using the so-called relational formalism at the…
We review the mathematical framework necessary to understand the physical content of quantum singularities in static spacetimes. We present many examples of classical singular spacetimes and study their singularities by using wave packets…
The degree of freedom of the scalar field in scalar-tensor gravity is employed as "time" to deparametrize the Hamiltonian constraint of the theory. The deparametrized system is then nonperturbatively quantized by the approach of loop…
Unitarity is a difficult concept to implement in canonical quantum gravity because of state non-normalizability and the problem of time. We take a realist approach based on pilot-wave theory to address this issue in the Ashtekar formulation…
Loop quantum gravity is believed to eliminate singularities such as the big bang and big crunch singularity. This belief is based on studies of so-called loop quantum cosmology which concerns symmetry-reduced models of quantum gravity. In…
We show that simple scalar field models can give rise to curvature singularities in the effective Friedmann dynamics of Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC). We find singular solutions for spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies with…
Recently the neglected issue of the causal structure in the flat spacetime approach to Einstein's theory of gravity has been substantially resolved. Consistency requires that the flat metric's null cone be respected by the null cone of the…
We continue our analysis of a quantum cosmology model describing a flat Friedmann--Lema\^itre--Robertson--Walker universe filled with a (free) massless scalar field and an arbitrary perfect fluid. For positive energy density in the scalar…
We present a non-perturbative quantization of general relativity coupled to dust and other matter fields. The dust provides a natural time variable, leading to a physical Hamiltonian with spatial diffeomorphism symmetry. The surprising…