Related papers: A critical note on time in the multiverse
Inflationary cosmology has become one of the cornerstones of modern cosmology. Inflation was the first theory within which it was possible to make predictions about the structure of the Universe on large scales, based on causal physics. The…
A geometric spacetime map of the universe is presented, addressing problems inherent in deep space observations and cosmology. Implications for the observer's perspective, the cosmological "horizon" and "flatness" problem, "inflation", and…
It has been suggested that by increasing the speed of light during the early universe various cosmological problems of standard big bang cosmology can be overcome, without requiring an inflationary phase. However, we find that as the Planck…
Astrophysical observations provide a picture of the universe as a 4-dim homogeneous and isotropic flat space-time dominated by an unknown form of dark energy. To achieve such a cosmology one has to consider in the early universe an…
This paper gives an elementary introduction to some of the conceptual problems of quantum cosmology. Contents: 1. Why quantum cosmology? 2. Time in quantum gravity 3.Decoherence and the recovery of the Schrodinger equation 4. The direction…
Last couple of decades have been the golden age for cosmology. High quality data confirmed the broad paradigm of standard cosmology but have thrusted upon us a preposterous composition for the universe which defies any simple explanation,…
The problem of time of quantum gravity has been argued to make canonical approaches unsatisfactory. In this article I study how it affects quantum cosmology and reach the same conclusion. The advantage of studying the cosmological case is…
Cosmology is nowadays going through a true revolution in the quantity and quality of observations that are capable of providing crucial information about the origin and evolution of the universe. In the first years of the next millenium we…
A cosmological model with two global internal times shows that time reparameterization invariance, and therefore covariance, is not guaranteed by deparameterization. In particular, it is impossible to derive proper-time effective equations…
Does inflation provide a compelling explanation for why the universe is so large, so flat, and so old, and a predictive theory of density perturbations? In this brief contribution (based on the role of the author as moderator of the…
The three cosmological conjectures to which our work refers are: the phenomenon called geodesic incompleteness, the physical gravitational $\theta_G$-term that would characterize the 1-parameter family of inequivalent vacua of quantum…
I survey physics theories involving parallel universes, arguing that they form a natural four-level hierarchy of multiverses allowing progressively greater diversity. Level I: A generic prediction of inflation is an infinite ergodic…
Inflation is a bold and expansive extension of the Standard Cosmology. It holds the promise to extend our understanding of the Universe to within 10^{-32}sec of the big bang and answer most of the pressing questions in cosmology. Its…
An unresolved question in inflationary cosmology is the assignment of probabilities to different types of events that can occur in the eternally inflating multiverse. We explore the possibility that the resolution of this "measure problem"…
The essay is devoted to the problem of time in the context of quantum cosmology, which acquires a philosophical level to date. At an example of the minisuperspace model, we show that this problem is illusive in the sense that it does not…
We put forward a multi-time theory, in frame of which the cosmic acceleration is a natural phenomenon without cosmological constant or anything like that. The main point of this theory is that each of the gravity interaction and…
In a previous paper we proposed a new approach to the beginning of inflation -- a lingering universe. The universe begins in a lingering state with a nearly vanishing Hubble parameter. This calls into question the absolute age of the…
It has been recently proposed that the multiverse of eternal inflation and the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics can be identified, yielding a new view on the measure and measurement problems. In the present note, we argue…
This thesis contains an analysis of the problem of time in quantum cosmology and its application to a cosmological minisuperspace model. In the first part, we introduce the problem of time and the theoretical foundations. In the second…
We present a framework in which well-defined predictions are obtained in an eternally inflating multiverse, based on the principles of quantum mechanics. We show that the entire multiverse is described purely from the viewpoint of a single…