Related papers: Quantization of time and the big bang via scale-in…
Recently, the variation of the Planck mass in the General Relativistic Einstein-Hilbert action was proposed as a self-tuning mechanism of the cosmological constant, preventing Standard Model vacuum energy from freely gravitating and…
We present a new picture of the early universe in finite nonlocal quantum gravity, which is Weyl invariant at the classical and quantum levels. The high-energy regime of the theory consists of two phases, a Weyl invariant trans-Planckian…
There ought to exist a reformulation of quantum theory which does not depend on classical time. To achieve such a reformulation, we introduce the concept of an atom of space-time-matter (STM). An STM atom is a classical non-commutative…
Within the framework of loop quantum cosmology, there exists a semi-classical regime where spacetime may be approximated in terms of a continuous manifold, but where the standard Friedmann equations of classical Einstein gravity receive…
Quantum General Relativity (QGR), sometimes called Loop Quantum Gravity, has matured over the past fifteen years to a mathematically rigorous candidate quantum field theory of the gravitational field. The features that distinguish it from…
We study the classical and quantum models of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) space-time, coupled to a perfect fluid, in the context of the consensus and a gauge-fixed Lagrangian frameworks. It is shown that, either in the usual or…
The unification of quantum theory and the general theory of relativity - describing gravity, is one of the most important challenges in science. Einstein's general theory of relativity is based on the principle of equivalence, and has been…
Starting from a new understanding of the vacuum energy problem based on the combination of the phase space regularization and the holographic bound, we argue that quantum gravity should be understood as gravitized quantum theory, that is,…
A new non-perturbative approach to quantum theory in curved spacetime and to quantum gravity, based on a generalisation of the Wigner equation, is proposed. Our definition for a Wigner equation differs from what have otherwise been…
We quantize the solution to the Belinski-Khalatnikov-Lifshitz (BKL) scenario using the integral quantization method. Quantization smears the gravitational singularity avoiding its localization in the configuration space. The latter is…
The quantization of time-reparametrization invariant systems such as general relativity is plagued by an ambiguity relating to the role of time in the theory. If one parametrizes observables by the (unobservable) time, and then relies on…
A discussion is given of the quantisation of a physical system with finite degrees of freedom subject to a Hamiltonian constraint by treating time as a constrained classical variable interacting with an unconstrained quantum state. This…
The question of possible physics before Big Bang (or after Big Crunch) is addressed via a schematic non-covariant simulation of the loss of observability of the Universe. Our model is drastically simplified by the reduction of its degrees…
When quantum gravity is used to discuss the big bang singularity, the most important, though rarely addressed, question is what role genuine quantum degrees of freedom play. Here, complete effective equations are derived for isotropic…
We point out a new phenomenon which seems to be generic in 4d effective theories of scalar fields coupled to Einstein gravity, when applied to cosmology. A lift of such theories to a Weyl-invariant extension allows one to define classical…
This thesis contains an analysis of the problem of time in quantum cosmology and its application to a cosmological minisuperspace model. In the first part, we introduce the problem of time and the theoretical foundations. In the second…
We continue our analysis of a quantum cosmology model describing a flat Friedmann--Lema\^itre--Robertson--Walker universe filled with a (free) massless scalar field and an arbitrary perfect fluid. For positive energy density in the scalar…
The covariance of loop quantum gravity studies of spherically symmetric space-times has recently been questioned. This is a reasonable worry, given that they are formulated in terms of slicing-dependent variables. We show explicitly that…
Using the Einstein-Hilbert approximation of asymptotically safe quantum gravity we present a consistent renormalization group based framework for the inclusion of quantum gravitational effects into the cosmological field equations. Relating…
We continue our investigation of an improved quantization scheme for spherically symmetric loop quantum gravity. We find that in the region where the black hole singularity appears in the classical theory, the quantum theory contains…