Related papers: On the evolution of the volume in Loop Quantum Cos…
We study the notion of volume and its dynamics in the loop-quantum-gravity truncation known as the two-vertex model. We also show that its U(N)-symmetry reduction provides the old effective dynamics of loop quantum cosmology with an…
An oscillating universe cycles through a series of expansions and contractions. We propose a model in which ``phantom'' energy with $p < -\rho$ grows rapidly and dominates the late-time expanding phase. The universe's energy density is so…
In the matter bounce scenario, a dust-dominated contracting space-time generates scale-invariant perturbations that, assuming a nonsingular bouncing cosmology, propagate to the expanding branch and set appropriate initial conditions for the…
The big bounce transition of the quantum FRW model in the setting of loop quantum cosmology is presented. We determine the physical self-adjoint Hamiltonian generating the dynamics. It is used to define, via the Stone theorem, an evolution…
It is suggested that the vacuum expectation of the quantum vacuum energy-momentum is zero, but quantum fluctuations give rise to a space-time curvature equivalent to that of a cosmological constant or dark energy. Calculations within…
Quantum cosmology is the quantum theory of the entire universe. Although strange at first sight, it is appropriate because (1) our world appears to be fundamentally quantum, (2) the classical description of gravity breaks down at…
We implement Polymer Quantum Mechanics on the Hamiltonian formulation of the isotropic Universe in both the representations of the standard Ashtekar-Barbero-Immirzi connection and of a new generalized coordinate conjugate to the Universe…
Quantum-gravity renders the space-time dimension to depend on the size of region; it monotonically increases with the size of region and asymptotically approaches four for large distances. This effect was discovered in numerical simulations…
We consider gravity theory with varying speed of light and varying gravitational constant. Both constants are represented by non-minimally coupled scalar fields. We examine the cosmological evolution in the near curvature singularity…
The principles of General Relativity allow for a non-vanishing cosmological constant, which can possibly be interpreted at least partially in terms of quantum-fluctuations of matter fields. Depending on sign and magnitude it can cause…
We analyze the quantum Bianchi I model in the setting of the nonstandard loop quantum cosmology. Elementary observables are used to quantize the volume operator. The spectrum of the volume operator is bounded from below and discrete. The…
Assignment of consistent quantum probabilities to events in a quantum universe is a fundamental challenge which every quantum cosmology/gravity framework must overcome. In loop quantum cosmology, this issue leads to a fundamental question:…
We consider implications of the microscopic dynamics of spacetime for the evolution of cosmological models. We argue that quantum geometry effects may lead to stochastic fluctuations of the gravitational constant, which is thus considered…
Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) predicts a nonsingular evolution of the universe through a bounce in the high energy region. But LQC has an ambiguity about the quantization scheme. Recently, the authors in [Phys. Rev. D 77, 124008 (2008)]…
Quantum mechanics introduces the concept of probability at the fundamental level, yielding the measurement problem. On the other hand, recent progress in cosmology has led to the "multiverse" picture, in which our observed universe is only…
Inhomogeneities are introduced in loop quantum cosmology using regular lattice states, with a kinematical arena similar to that in homogeneous models considered earlier. The framework is intended to encapsulate crucial features of…
In the loop approach to the quantisation of gravity, one uses a Hilbert space which is too singular for some operators to be realised as derivatives. This is usually addressed by instead using finite difference operators at the Planck…
In this work, we investigate the notion of time and unitarity in the vicinity of a bounce in quantum cosmology, that is, a turning point for the scale factor. Because WKB methods drastically fail near a turning point, the scale factor…
We consider the ADM formalism as a tool to build bouncing cosmologies. In this approach, the foliation of the spacetime has to be fixed in order to go beyond General Relativity modifying the gravitational sector. Once a preferred slicing,…
A fundamental issue for any quantum cosmological theory is to specify how probabilities can be assigned to various quantum events or sequences of events such as the occurrence of singularities or bounces. In previous work, we have…