Related papers: Origin of Structure in the Universe: Quantum Cosmo…
Evolution of a universe with homogeneous extra dimensions is studied with the benefit of a well-chosen parameter space that provides a systematic, useful, and convenient way for analysis. In this model we find a natural evolution pattern…
An improved Hamiltonian constraint operator is introduced in loop quantum cosmology. Quantum dynamics of the spatially flat, isotropic model with a massless scalar field is then studied in detail using analytical and numerical methods. The…
Classical limits of quantum systems are shown to lead to different conceptions of spaces different from the classical one underlying the process of quantization of such systems. The accent is put in situations where traces of…
A geometric framework for describing quantum particles on a possibly curved background is proposed. Natural constructions on certain distributional bundles (`quantum bundles') over the spacetime manifold yield a quantum ``formalism'' along…
Is the universe finite or infinite, and what shape does it have? These fundamental questions, of which relatively little is known, are typically studied within the context of the standard model of cosmology where the universe is assumed to…
The third quantization formalism of quantum cosmology adds simplicity and conceptual insight into the quantum description of the multiverse. Within such a formalism, the existence of squeezed and entangled states raises the question of…
The early universe provides an opportunity for quantum gravity to connect to observation by explaining the large-scale structure of the Universe. In the group field theory (GFT) approach, a macroscopic universe is described as a GFT…
Quantum cosmology implies corrections to the classical equations of motion which may lead to significant departures from the classical trajectory, especially at high curvature near the big-bang singularity. Corrections could in principle be…
We outline the key-steps toward the construction of a physical, fully relativistic cosmology. The influence of inhomogeneities on the effective evolution history of the Universe is encoded in backreaction terms and expressed through…
The observable universe is fundamentally inhomogeneous and anisotropic. Quantum description of the generation of these inhomogeneities and anisotropies is ill-understood and unsatisfactory. After providing a brief account of the standard…
In quantum cosmology, one has to select a specific wave function solution of the quantum state equations under consideration in order to obtain concrete results. The simplest choices have been already explored, in different frameworks,…
We introduce a new framework for loop quantum gravity: mimicking the spinfoam quantization procedure we propose to study the symmetric sectors of the theory imposing the reduction weakly on the full kinematical Hilbert space of the…
The Affine Coherent State Quantization procedure is applied to the case of a FRLW universe in the presence of a cosmological constant. The quantum corrections alter the dynamics of the system in the semiclassical regime, providing a…
We discuss the cosmological constant problem in the light of dilatation symmetry and its possible anomaly. For dilatation symmetric quantum theories realistic asymptotic cosmology is obtained provided the effective potential has a…
The role of global topology in the dynamics of the Universe is poorly understood. Along with observational programmes for determining the topology of the Universe, some small theoretical steps have recently been made. Heuristic…
In the last decade, progress on quantization of homogeneous cosmological spacetimes using techniques of loop quantum gravity has led to insights on various fundamental questions and has opened new avenues to explore Planck scale physics.…
Quantization of field-theoretic models with gauge symmetries is often obstructed by quantum anomalies. It is commonly believed that the origin of these anomalies lies in the infinite number of degrees of freedom, which requires completing…
The assumption that a complete description of an early state of the universe does not privilege any position or direction in space leads to a unified account of probability in cosmology, macroscopic physics, and quantum mechanics. Such a…
The configuration space of general relativity is superspace - the space of all Riemannian 3-metrics modulo diffeomorphisms. However, it has been argued that the configuration space for gravity should be conformal superspace - the space of…
Cosmology struggles with the theoretical problems generated by the observed value and recent emergence of a cosmological constant, in the standard model of cosmology, i.e. the concordance model. We propose to provide a more natural…