Related papers: No smooth beginning for spacetime
In recent work, we introduced Picard-Lefschetz theory as a tool for defining the Lorentzian path integral for quantum gravity in a systematic semiclassical expansion. This formulation avoids several pitfalls occurring in the Euclidean…
We argue that the Lorentzian path integral is a better starting point for quantum cosmology than the Euclidean version. In particular, we revisit the mini-superspace calculation of the Feynman path integral for quantum gravity with a…
In previous works, we have demonstrated that the path integral for {\it real, Lorentzian} four-geometries in Einstein gravity yields sensible results in well-understood physical situations, but leads to uncontrolled fluctuations when the…
Quantum cosmology aims at elucidating the beginning of our Universe. Back in early 80's, Vilenkin and Hartle-Hawking put forward the "tunneling from nothing" and "no boundary" proposals. Recently there has been renewed interest in this…
Recently, the Lorentzian path integral formulation using the Picard-Lefschetz theory has attracted much attention in quantum cosmology. In this paper, we analyze the tunneling amplitude in quantum mechanics by using the Lorentzian…
Motivated by the recent development in quantum cosmology, we revisit the anisotropic Kantowski-Sachs model in the light of a Lorentzian path integral formalism. Studies so far have considered the Euclidean method where the choice of the…
We revisit the path-integral approach to the wave function of the Universe by utilizing Lefschetz thimble analyses and resurgence theory. The traditional Euclidean path-integral of gravity has the notorious ambiguity of the direction of…
We evaluate the Lorentzian gravitational path integral in the presence of non-vanishing torsion with the application of the Picard-Lefschetz theory for minisuperspaces corresponding to a number of phenomenological bouncing cosmological…
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…
We directly evaluate the probability amplitudes in Jackiw-Teitelboim (JT) gravity using the Lorentzian path integral formulation. By imposing boundary conditions on the scale factor and the dilaton field, the Lorentzian path integral…
The very early universe is understood in terms of quantum field theories on curved spacetime, where the classical background spacetime is typically an FLRW cosmology and the quantum fields which propagate on it include gravitational waves…
A complete model of the universe needs at least three parts: (1) a complete set of physical variables and dynamical laws for them, (2) the correct solution of the dynamical laws, and (3) the connection with conscious experience. In quantum…
In these lecture notes, I describe the motivation behind a recent formulation of a non-perturbative gravitational path integral for Lorentzian (instead of the usual Euclidean) space-times, and give a pedagogical introduction to its main…
In the Hartle-Hawking ``no boundary'' approach to quantum cosmology, a real tunneling geometry is a configuration that represents a transition from a compact Riemannian spacetime to a Lorentzian universe. I complete an earlier proof that in…
A complete model of the universe needs at least three parts: (1) a complete set of physical variables and dynamical laws for them, (2) the correct solution of the dynamical laws, and (3) the connection with conscious experience. In quantum…
Quantum mechanical transition amplitudes directly tells the probability of each transition and which one is more favourable. Path-integrals offers a systematic methodology to compute this quantum mechanical process in a consistent manner.…
The Lorentzian path integral for the wave function of the Universe is only conditionally convergent and thus requires a well-defined prescription. The Picard-Lefschetz approach ensures convergence through contour deformation, but it has…
The gravitational path-integral of Gauss-Bonnet gravity is investigated and the transition from one spacelike boundary configuration to another is analyzed. Of particular interest is the case of Neumann and Robin boundary conditions which…
We present a theory of tunnelling geometries originating from the no-boundary quantum state of Hartle and Hawking. We reformulate the no-boundary wavefunction in the representation of true physical variables and calculate it in the one-loop…
In this paper we study the Lorentzian path-integral of Gauss-Bonnet gravity in the mini-superspace approximation in four spacetime dimensions and investigate the transition amplitude from one configuration to another. Past studies motivate…