Related papers: Swampland Constraints on No-Boundary Quantum Cosmo…
We propose an alternative refined de Sitter conjecture. It is given by a natural condition on a combination of the first and second derivatives of the scalar potential. We derive our conjecture in the same weak coupling, semi-classical…
In a quantum theory of cosmology spacetime behaves classically only in limited patches of the configuration space on which the wave function of the universe is defined. Quantum transitions can connect classical evolution in different…
We construct analytic and numerical solutions of the Fokker-Planck equation that arises in the context of stochastic inflation. We use these solutions to derive necessary conditions for eternal inflation on the higher derivatives of the…
The evolution of the universe is determined by its quantum state. The wave function of the universe obeys the constraints of general relativity and in particular the Wheeler-DeWitt equation (WDWE). For non-zero \Lambda, we show that…
Since the advent of inflation, several theorems have been proven suggesting that although inflation can (and generically does) continue eternally into the future, it cannot be extended eternally into the past to create a ``steady-state''…
Vacuum decay in de Sitter space is a process of great physical interest, as it allows to rule out cosmological models in the early and current Universe. Its rate may be described in terms of an instanton in Euclidean space called bounce and…
Dimensional reduction has proven to be a surprisingly powerful tool for delineating the boundary between the string landscape and the swampland. Bounds from the Weak Gravity Conjecture and the Repulsive Force Conjecture, for instance, are…
Starting from the swampland distance conjecture, and using the species bound for a large number of weakly-coupled particles, we give a derivation of the recently proposed trans-Planckian censorship conjecture. Our argument demonstrates how…
A brief review of the modern state of quantum cosmology is presented as a theory of quantum initial conditions for inflationary scenario. The no-boundary and tunneling states of the Universe are discussed as a possible source of probability…
The Swampland Distance Conjecture (SDC) constraints the dynamics emerging at infinite distances in field space of any effective field theory consistent with quantum gravity. It provides a relation between the cut-off in energies and the…
In a previous paper we proposed a new approach to the beginning of inflation -- a lingering universe. The universe begins in a lingering state with a nearly vanishing Hubble parameter. This calls into question the absolute age of the…
We demonstrate in the context of the minisuperspace model consisting of a closed Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe coupled to a scalar field that Vilenkin's tunneling wavefunction can only be consistently defined for particular choices of…
We re-examine the Hartle-Hawking wave function from the point of view of a quantum theory which starts from the connection representation and allows for off-shell non-constancy of $\Lambda$ (as in unimodular theory), with a concomitant dual…
We introduce a novel correlation, $n_s$ - $\Delta N$, connecting CMB parameters to the required total e-folds for eternal inflation. This correlation provides a robust tool for evaluating eternal (string) inflation models using CMB data and…
By considering (non-relativistic) quantum mechanics as it is done in practice in particular in condensed-matter physics, it is argued that a deterministic, unitary time evolution within a chosen Hilbert space always has a limited scope,…
We analyse the impact of various boundary conditions on the (minisuperspace) Lorentzian gravitational path integral. In particular we assess the implications for the Hartle-Hawking no-boundary wavefunction. It was shown recently that when…
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)…
We perform a minisuperspace analysis of an information-theoretic nonlinear Wheeler-deWitt (WDW) equation for de Sitter universes. The nonlinear WDW equation, which is in the form of a difference-differential equation, is transformed into a…
We discuss a dramatic difference between the description of the quantum creation of an open universe using the Hartle-Hawking wave function and the tunneling wave function. Recently Hawking and Turok have found that the Hartle-Hawking wave…
This paper investigates the manner in which classical universes are obtained in the no-boundary quantum state. In this context, universes can be characterised as classical (in a WKB sense) when the wavefunction is highly oscillatory, i.e.…