Related papers: Is spacetime absolutely or just most probably Lore…
We observe that the standard homogeneous cosmologies, those of Minkowski, de Sitter, and anti-de Sitter, which form the matrix for the Robertson--Walker scale factor, live naturally as isolated points inside a larger family of conformally…
It is shown -- using a FRW model with ${\bf S}^3 \times {\bf S}^6$ as spatial sections and a positive cosmological constant -- that classical signature change implies a new compactification mechanism. The internal scale factor is of the…
In the minisuperspace models of quantum cosmology, the absence of time in the Wheeler-DeWitt (constraint) equation, is the main point leading to the generally accepted conclusion that in the quantum cosmology there is no possibility to…
The problem of matching different regions of spacetime in order to construct inhomogeneous cosmological models is investigated in the context of Lagrangian theories of gravity constructed from general analytic functions f(R), and from…
Inspired from the idea of minimally coupling of a real scalar field to geometry, we investigate the classical and quantum models of a flat energy-dependent FRW cosmology coupled to a perfect fluid in the framework of the scalar-rainbow…
The closed, k=1, FRW model coupled to a massless scalar field is investigated in the framework of loop quantum cosmology using analytical and numerical methods. As in the k=0 case, the scalar field can be again used as emergent time to…
Three-dimensional Lorentzian quantum gravity, expressed as the continuum limit of a nonperturbative sum over spacetimes, is tantalizingly close to being amenable to analytical methods, and some of its properties have been described in terms…
We use the conditional symmetry approach to study the $r$-evolution of a minisuperspace spherically symmetric model both at the classical and quantum level. After integration of the coordinates $t$, $\theta$ and $\phi$ in the gravitational…
We provide a detailed construction of the quantum theory of the massless scalar field on 2-dimensional, globally-hyperbolic (in particular, Lorentzian) manifolds using the framework of perturbative algebraic quantum field theory. From this…
As is well known, the 0 - 0 component of the Schwarzschild space can be obtained by the requirement that the geodesic of slowly moving particles match the Newtonian equation. Given this result, we show here that the remaining components can…
A cosmological model with perfect fluid and self-interacting quintessence field is considered in the framework of the spatially flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) geometry. By assuming that all physical quantities depend on the volume…
We speculate about the spacetime description due to the presence of Lorentzian wormholes (handles in spacetime joining two distant regions or other universes) in quantum gravity. The semiclassical rate of production of these Lorentzian…
The quantization of Class A Bianchi Type VI and VII geometries -with all six scale factors, as well as the lapse function and the shift vector present- is considered. A first reduction of the initial 6-dimensional configuration space is…
According to the `Cosmological Central Dogma', de Sitter space can be viewed as a quantum mechanical system with a finite number of degrees of freedom, set by the horizon area. We use this assumption together with the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW)…
The timescape cosmology represents a potentially viable alternative to the standard homogeneous cosmology, without the need for dark energy. Although average cosmic evolution in the timescape scenario only differs substantially from that of…
In this paper I shall consider a scalar-scalar field theory with scalar field phi on a four-dimensional manifold M, and a Lorentzian Cofinsler function f on T*M. A particularly simple Lagrangian is chosen to govern this theory, and when f…
One of the deepest insights from the general theory of relativity is the relational nature of spacetime. While it is a generally agreed on that the nature of spacetime must be drastically different at the Planck scale, it has been a common…
The definition of matter states on spacelike hypersurfaces of a 1+1 dimensional black hole spacetime is considered. Because of small quantum fluctuations in the mass of the black hole, the usual approximation of treating the gravitational…
Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity in two-dimensional de Sitter space is an intriguing model for cosmological "wave functions of the universe". Its minisuperspace version already contains all physical information. The size of compact slices is…
The effects of phase space deformations in standard scalar field cosmology are studied. The deformation is introduced by modifying the symplectic structure of the minisuperspace variables to have a deformed Poisson algebra among the…