Related papers: GUP vs polymer quantum cosmology: the Taub model
We consider a polymer quantization of a free massless scalar field in a homogeneous and isotropic cosmological spacetime. This quantization method assumes that field translations are fundamentally discrete, and is related to but distinct…
Contemporary research programs in fundamental physics appear to suggest that there could be two (physical) times---or none at all. This essay articulates these possibilities in the context of quantum gravity, and in particular of…
Various theories of quantum gravity predict the existence of a minimum length scale, which leads to the modification of the standard uncertainty principle to the Generalized Uncertainty Principle (GUP). In this paper, we study two forms of…
An extrinsic time is identified in most isotropic and homogeneous cosmological models by matching them with the ideal clock - a parametrized system whose only "degree of freedom" is time -. Once this matching is established, the…
Loop Quantum Gravity is a background independent, nonperturbative approach to the quantization of General Relativity. Its application to models of interest in cosmology and astrophysics, known as Loop Quantum Cosmology, has led to new and…
In this essay we discuss the difference in views of the Universe as seen by two different observers. While one of the observers follows a geodesic congruence defined by the geometry of the cosmological model, the other observer follows the…
Loop quantum gravity, a non-perturbative and manifestly background free, quantum theory of gravity implies that at the kinematical level the spatial geometry is discrete in a specific sense. The spirit of background independence also…
The proper resolution of the so-called measurement problem requires a "top-down" conception of the quantum world that is opposed to the usual "bottom-up" conception, which builds on an intrinsically and maximally differentiated manifold.…
In this paper, we analyze the viability of a vacuum Gauss-Bonnet cosmology by examining the dynamics of the homogeneous and anisotropic background in 4+1 dimensions. The trajectories of the system either originate from the standard…
Several phenomenological approaches to quantum gravity predict the existence of a minimal measurable length and/or a maximum measurable momentum near the Planck scale. When embedded into the framework of quantum mechanics, such constraints…
Although the cubic T^3 "small universe" has been ruled out by COBE/DMR results as an interesting cosmological model, we still have the possibility of living in a universe with a more anisotropic topology such as a rectangular T^3 "small…
A homogeneous and isotropic cosmological model with a positive cosmological constant is considered. The matter sector is given by a massless scalar field, which can be used as an internal time to deparametrize the theory. The idea is to…
The Bell's inequality is a strong criterion to distinguish classical and quantum mechanical aspects of reality. Its violation is the net effect of the existence of non-locality in systems, an advantage for quantum mechanics (QM) over…
Based on the doubly special relativity we find a new type of generalized uncertainty principle (GUP) where the coordinate remain unaltered at the high energy while the momentum is deformed at the high energy so that it may be bounded from…
Analytical and numerical methods are developed to analyze the quantum nature of the big bang in the setting of loop quantum cosmology. They enable one to explore the effects of quantum geometry both on the gravitational and matter sectors…
The idea of the quantum state of the Universe described by some density matrix, i.e mixture of at least two vacua, the trivial symmetric and the nontrivial one with spontaneously broken symmetry is discussed. Nonzero cosmological constant…
We will highlight that despite there being various approaches to quantum gravity, there are universal approach-independent features of quantum gravity. The geometry of spacetime becomes an emergent structure, which emerges from some purely…
The consensus of opinion in cosmology is that the Universe is currently undergoing a period of accelerated expansion. With current and proposed high precision experiments it offers the hope of being able to discriminate between the two…
The general thermodynamic analysis of the quantum vacuum, which is based on our knowledge of the vacua in condensed-matter systems, is consistent with the Einstein earlier view on the cosmological constant. In the equilibrium Universes the…
The development of dark energy models has stimulated interest to cosmological singularities, which differ from the traditional Big Bang and Big Crunch singularities. We review a broad class of phenomena connected with soft cosmological…