Related papers: No smooth beginning for spacetime
Quantum cosmology uses a wave function to model the universe, but finding solutions for this poses a problem as it is difficult to define the boundary conditions or identify the correct path for a path integral. We begin the discussion by…
We formulate a new quantum equivalence principle by which a path integral for a particle in a general metric-affine space is obtained from that in a flat space by a non-holonomic coordinate transformation. The new path integral is free of…
Although the Hamiltonian formalism is so far favored for quantum computation of lattice gauge theory, the path integral formalism would never be useless. The advantages of the path integral formalism are the knowledge and experience…
Over 30 years ago, Barrow & Tipler proposed the principle according to which the action integrated over the entire 4-manifold describing the universe should be finite. Here we explore the cosmological consequences of a related criterion,…
In this paper, starting from the common foundation of Connes' noncommutative geometry (NCG) [1,2,3,4], various possible alternatives in the formulation of a theory of gravity in noncommutative spacetime are discussed in detail. The…
The gauge symmetry of classical general relativity under space-time diffeomorphisms implies that any path integral quantization which can be interpreted as a sum over space-time geometries, gives rise to a formal invariant of smooth…
The Feynman path integral has revolutionized modern approaches to quantum physics. Although the path integral formalism has proven very successful and spawned several approximation schemes, the direct evaluation of real-time path integrals…
The tunneling wave function of the universe is investigated in a minisuperspace framework of a de Sitter universe with a quantum scalar field, treated as a perturbation. We consider three different approaches to defining the tunneling wave…
When the semi-positive cosmological constant is dynamical, the naive Euclidean Einstein action is unbounded from below and the Hartle-Hawking wavefunction of the universe is not normalizable. With the inclusion of back-reaction (a crucial…
Quantum tunneling in a many-body system is much more non-trivial than that in a one-body system. The most characteristic phenomenon is the mixed tunneling, which has been studied in many fields for decades. For instance, let us consider a…
The Hartle-Hawking no-boundary proposal describes the quantum creation of the universe. To have a non-negligible probability to obtain a classical expanding universe, eternal inflation is required, which is severely constrained by Swampland…
So far, none of attempts to quantize gravity has led to a satisfactory model that not only describe gravity in the realm of a quantum world, but also its relation to elementary particles and other fundamental forces. Here, we outline the…
Imaginary time is often used in quantum tunnelling calculations. This article advocates a conceptually sounder alternative: complex lapse. In the ``3+1'' action for the Einstein gravitational field minimally coupled to a Klein-Gordon field,…
Tunneling processes offer a promising path for finding signatures of quantum gravity. While tunneling of geometry has long been recognized in the literature, few detailed analyses in covariant Loop Quantum Gravity have been carried out. We…
While there does not at this time exist a complete canonical theory of full 3+1 quantum gravity, there does appear to be a satisfactory canonical quantization of minisuperspace models. The method requires no `choice of time variable' and…
We describe a theory of quantum gravity which is based on the assumption that the spacetime structure at small distances is given by a piecewise linear (PL) 4-manifold corresponding to a triangulation of a smooth 4-manifold. The fundamental…
By assuming gravity and matter to be subject to a joint statistical mechanical concept (JSMC) and interpreting Rindler horizon sections as open thermodynamic systems, one arrives at a specific new form of non-perturbative Lorentzian path…
The spinfoam framework is a proposal for a regularized path integral for quantum gravity. Spinfoams define quantum space-time structures describing the evolution in time of the spin network states for quantum geometry derived from Loop…
Boundary conditions play a crucial role in the path-integral approach to quantum gravity and quantum cosmology, as well as in the current attempts to understand the one-loop semiclassical properties of quantum field theories. Within this…
Many interesting physical theories have analytic classical actions. We show how Feynman's path integral may be defined non-perturbatively, for such theories, without a Wick rotation to imaginary time. We start by introducing a class of…