Related papers: Generic absence of strong singularities and geodes…
This paper summarizes a new proposal to define rigorously a sector of loop quantum gravity at the diffeomorphism invariant level corresponding to homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies, thereby enabling a detailed comparison of results in…
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…
We study the loop quantum cosmology of a flat Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker space-time with a Maxwell field. We show that many of the qualitative properties derived for the case of a massless scalar field also hold for a Maxwell…
In Vilenkin's tunneling wavefunction proposal our expanding universe is born via a tunneling through a barrier from nothing at the zero scale factor. We explore the viability of this proposal for the spatially closed FLRW model with a…
In this article, we review the use of numerical techniques to obtain solutions for the quantum Hamiltonian constraint in loop quantum cosmology (LQC). First, we summarize the basic features of LQC, and describe features of the constraint…
Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) is used to provide concrete evidence in support of the general paradigm underlying spin foam models (SFMs). Specifically, it is shown that: i) the physical inner product in the timeless framework equals the…
In the current review, we provide a summary of the recent progress made in the cosmological aspect of extra-dimensional Lovelock gravity. Our review covers a wide variety of particular model/matter source combinations:…
The standard model of cosmology assumes a homogeneous and isotropic universe that undergoes a period of exponential expansion very early on, named inflation. This stretches quantum fluctuations from the onset of inflation to cosmological…
In loop quantum cosmology, non-perturbative quantum gravity effects lead to the resolution of the big bang singularity by a quantum bounce without introducing any new degrees of freedom. Though fundamentally discrete, the theory admits a…
Loop quantum cosmology in (b, v) variables, which is governed by a unit step size difference equation, is embedded into a full theory context based on similar variables. A full theory context here means a theory of quantum gravity arrived…
The Gowdy cosmologies are vacuum solutions to the Einstein equations which possess two space-like Killing vectors and whose spatial sections are compact. We consider the simplest of these cosmological models: the case where the spatial…
We hereby address the cosmological singularity problem in a general gravitational theory invariant under Weyl conformal transformations. In particular, we focus on the Bianchi IX spacetime and we show that both the initial (big bang) and…
The inverse scale factor, which in classical cosmological models diverges at the singularity, is quantized in isotropic models of loop quantum cosmology by using techniques which have been developed in quantum geometry for a quantization of…
We investigate here spherically symmetric gravitational collapse in a spacetime with an arbitrary number of dimensions and with a general {\it type I} matter field, which is a broad class that includes most of the physically reasonable…
A non-singular cosmology is derived in modified gravity (MOG) with a varying gravitational coupling strength $G(t)=G_N\xi(t)$. Assuming that the curvature $k$, the cosmological constant $\Lambda$ and $\rho$ vanish at $t=0$, we obtain a…
In this work a loop quantum corrected model is obtained for spherically symmetric space-times in the vacuum. This effective model is derived by the use of the path integral method, previously employed in several models of Loop Quantum…
The scheme of using the Chern-Simons action to regularize the gravitational Hamiltonian constraint is extended to including the Lorentzian term in the $k=0$ cosmological model. The Euclidean term and the Lorenzian term are thus regularized…
The Gowdy cosmologies provide a suitable arena to further develop Loop Quantum Cosmology, allowing the presence of inhomogeneities. For the particular case of Gowdy spacetimes with the spatial topology of a three-torus and a content of…
Although there is general agreement that a removal of classical gravitational singularities is not only a crucial conceptual test of any approach to quantum gravity but also a prerequisite for any fundamental theory, the precise criteria…
We extend the scalar-tensor reconstruction techniques for classical cosmology frameworks, in the context of loop quantum cosmology. After presenting in some detail how the equations are generalized in the loop quantum cosmology case, we…