Related papers: Towards solving generic cosmological singularity p…
We discuss how the modifications of the standard Einstein's equations needed to support the cosmological bounce can at the same time lead to vanishing of the well known cosmological constant problem, while also studying the effects of…
With a well-motivated extension of higher order holonomy corrections, the quantum theory of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) for the $k=0$ Friedmann-Robertson-Walker model (with a free massless scalar) is rigorously formulated. The analytical…
Loop quantum cosmology predicts that, in simple models, the big bang singularity of classical general relativity is replaced by a quantum bounce. Because of the extreme physical conditions near the bounce, a natural question is whether the…
By quantizing the background as well as the perturbations in a simple one fluid cosmological model, we show that there exists an ambiguity in the choice of relevant variables, potentially leading to incompatible observational physical…
A background-independent quantization of the Universe near its Big Bang singularity is considered using a drastically simplified toy model. Several conceptual issues are addressed. (1) The observable spatial-geometry characteristics of our…
We study quantum cosmology with conformal matter comprising a perfect radiation fluid and a number of conformally coupled scalar fields. Focusing initially on the collective coordinates (minisuperspace) associated with homogeneous,…
The fundamental theory and the semiclassical description of loop quantum cosmology (LQC) have been studied in the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker and Bianchi I models. As an extension to include both anisotropy and intrinsic curvature, this…
The big bang singularity could be understood as a breakdown of Einstein's General Relativity at very high energies. Adopting this viewpoint, other theories, that implement Einstein Cosmology at high energies, might solve the problem of the…
We study the Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of a spatially flat Friedmann-Lema\^itre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) universe with pressureless dust (modeled via the Brown-Kucha\v{r} formalism) and a dynamical cosmological constant $\Lambda$ treated…
We consider a generalized Einstein-Cartan theory, in which we add the unique covariant dimension four operators to general relativity that couples fermionic spin current to the torsion tensor (with an arbitrary strength). Since torsion is…
Recently, Wang with Stankiewicz (Phys. Lett. B 800 (2020) 135106) opposed the widespread belief that due to quantization, the Big Bang singularity {\em must} necessarily get smeared and replaced by a non-singular "Big Bounce" process. Their…
Until recently, the physically relevant singularities occurring in FRW cosmologies had traditionally been thought to be limited to the "big bang", and possibly a "big crunch". However, over the last few years, the zoo of cosmological…
Scenario of a bouncing universe is one of the most active area of research to arrive at singularity free cosmological models. Different proposals have been suggested to avoid the so called 'big bang' singularity through the quantum aspect…
We formulate the transition from decelerated to accelerated expansion as a bounce in connection space and study its quantum cosmology, knowing that reflections are notorious for bringing quantum effects to the fore. We use a formalism for…
The occurrence of a bounce in FRW cosmology requires modifications of general relativity. An example of such a modification is the recently proposed Horava-Lifshitz theory of gravity, which includes a ``dark radiation'' term with a negative…
We study the dynamics of states perturbatively expanded about a harmonic system of loop quantum cosmology, exhibiting a bounce. In particular, the evolution equations for the first and second order moments of the system are analyzed. These…
Canonical quantization of general relativity does not yield a unique quantum theory for gravity. This is in part due to operator ordering ambiguities. In this paper, we investigate the role of different operator orderings on the question of…
The quantum nature of the Big Bang is reexamined in the framework of Loop Quantum Cosmology. The strict application of a regularization procedure to the Hamiltonian, originally developed for the Hamiltonian in loop quantum gravity, leads to…
We examine the nature of the cosmological big-bounce (BB) transition within the loop geometry underlying Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) at classical and quantum levels. Our canonical quantization method is an alternative to the standard LQC.…
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…