Related papers: The landscape of polymer quantum cosmology
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…
In recent years, Loop Quantum Gravity has emerged as a solid candidate for a nonperturbative quantum theory of General Relativity. It is a background independent theory based on a description of the gravitational field in terms of…
Isotropic models in loop quantum cosmology allow explicit calculations, thanks largely to a completely known volume spectrum, which is exploited in order to write down the evolution equation in a discrete internal time. Because of genuinely…
Loop quantum gravity is a mature theory. To proceed to explicit calculations in cosmology, it is necessary to make assumptions and simplifications based on the symmetries of the cosmological setting. Symmetry reduction is especially…
Cosmology appears as the most promising way to test and constrain quantum gravity theories. Loop quantum gravity is among the most advanced attempts to perform a non-perturbative quantization of general relativity. Its cosmological…
Analytical and numerical methods are developed to analyze the quantum nature of the big bang in the setting of loop quantum cosmology. They enable one to explore the effects of quantum geometry both on the gravitational and matter sectors…
Building upon our recently established correspondence between quantum cosmology and the hydrogen atom [1], we investigate the specific sector of a negative cosmological constant ($\Lambda < 0$) in a flat FLRW universe with dust. While the…
A new model is studied which describes the quantum behavior of transitions through an isotropic quantum cosmological bounce in loop quantum cosmology sourced by a free and massless scalar field. As an exactly solvable model even at the…
Degenerate geometrical configurations in quantum gravity are important to understand if the fate of classical singularities is to be revealed. However, not all degenerate configurations arise on an equal footing, and one must take into…
By quantizing the background as well as the perturbations in a simple one fluid cosmological model, we show that there exists an ambiguity in the choice of relevant variables, potentially leading to incompatible observational physical…
Some long standing issues concerning the quantum nature of the big bang are resolved in the context of homogeneous isotropic models with a scalar field. Specifically, the known results on the resolution of the big bang singularity in loop…
We employ the framework of affine covariant quantization and associated semiclassical portrait to address two main issues in the domain of quantum gravitational systems: (i) the fate of singularities and (ii) the lack of external time. Our…
Canonical methods allow the derivation of effective gravitational actions from the behavior of space-time deformations reflecting general covariance. With quantum effects, the deformations and correspondingly the effective actions change,…
We analyse the semi-classical and quantum dynamics of the isotropic Universe in the framework of the Polymer Quantum mechanics, in order to implement a cut-off physics on the initial singularity. We first identify in the Universe cubed…
This Chapter provides an up to date, pedagogical review of some of the most relevant advances in loop quantum cosmology. We review the quantization of homogeneous cosmological models, their singularity resolution and the formulation of…
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…
Quantum cosmology in general denotes the application of quantum physics to the whole universe and thus gives rise to many realizations and examples, covering problems at different mathematical and conceptual levels. It is related to quantum…
The occurrence of singularities where spacetime curvature becomes infinite and geodesic evolution breaks down are inevitable events in classical general relativity (GR) unless one chooses an exotic matter violating weak energy condition.…
In quantum cosmology, one has to select a specific wave function solution of the quantum state equations under consideration in order to obtain concrete results. The simplest choices have been already explored, in different frameworks,…
In loop quantum cosmology the quantum dynamics is well understood. We approximate the full quantum dynamics in the infinite dimensional Hilbert space by projecting it on a finite dimensional submanifold thereof, spanned by suitably chosen…