Related papers: Casting Loop Quantum Cosmology in the Spin Foam Pa…
In Loop Quantum Gravity mathematically rigorous models of full quantum gravity were proposed. In this paper we study a cosmological sector of one of the models describing quantum gravity with positive cosmological constant coupled to…
Proposing smooth initial conditions is one of the most important tasks in quantum cosmology. On the other hand, the low-energy effective action, appearing in the semiclassical path integral, can get nontrivial quantum corrections near…
Spinfoams provide a framework for the dynamics of loop quantum gravity that is manifestly covariant under the full four-dimensional diffeomorphism symmetry group of general relativity. In this way they complete the ideal of…
The very early universe provides the best arena we currently have to test quantum gravity theories. The success of the inflationary paradigm in accounting for the observed inhomogeneities in the cosmic microwave background already…
In the quest of a physical theory of quantum gravity, spin foam models, or in short spinfoams, propose a well-defined path integral summing over quantized discrete space-time geometries. At the crossroad of topological quantum field theory,…
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…
The effective approach in Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) has provided means to obtain predictions for observable quantities in LQC models. While an effective dynamics in LQC has been extensively considered in different scenarios, a robust…
We present a new perspective on early cosmology based on Loop Quantum Gravity. We use projected spinnetworks, coherent states and spinfoam techniques, to implement a quantum reduction of the full Kinematical Hilbert space of LQG, suitable…
This is an introduction to spin foam models for non-perturbative quantum gravity, an approach that lies at the point of convergence of many different research areas, including loop quantum gravity, topological quantum field theories, path…
First, we review the $C^\ast$-algebraic foundations of loop quantization, in particular, the construction of quantum configuration spaces and the implementation of symmetries. Then, we apply these results to loop quantum gravity, focusing…
An important goal is to understand better the relation between full loop quantum gravity (LQG) and the simplified, reduced theory known as loop quantum cosmology (LQC), {\em directly at the quantum level}. Such a firmer understanding would…
This paper is twofold. First of all a complete unified picture of $n$-dimensional quantum gravity is proposed in the following sense: In spin foam models of quantum gravity the evaluation of spin networks play a very important role. These…
The flat, homogeneous, and isotropic universe with a massless scalar field is a paradigmatic model in Loop Quantum Cosmology. In spite of the prominent role that the model has played in the development of this branch of physics, there still…
In quantum cosmology, one applies quantum physics to the whole universe. While no unique version and no completely well-defined theory is available yet, the framework gives rise to interesting conceptual, mathematical and physical…
Effective spin foams provide the computationally most efficient spin foam models yet and are therefore ideally suited for applications e.g. to quantum cosmology. We provide here the first effective spin foam computations of a finite time…
Wheeler's conjectured "spacetime foam" -- large quantum fluctuations of spacetime at the Planck scale -- could have important implications for quantum gravity, perhaps even explaining why the cosmological constant seems so small. Here I…
Recently the mechanism was found which allows avoidance of the cosmological singularity within the semi-classical formulation of Loop Quantum Gravity. Numerical studies show that the presence of self-interaction potential of the scalar…
A central aspect of the cosmological constant problem is to understand why vacuum energy does not gravitate. In order to account for this observation, while allowing for nontrivial dynamics of the quantum vacuum, we motivate a novel…
Loop quantum cosmology predicts that quantum gravity effects resolve the big-bang singularity and replace it by a cosmic bounce. Furthermore, loop quantum cosmology can also modify the form of primordial cosmological perturbations, for…
Quantum cosmology is usually studied quantizing symmetry-reduced variables. Is it possible, instead, to define quantum cosmology starting from the full quantum gravity theory? In Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG), it is possible to cut the degrees…