Related papers: Quasi-dust ekpyrotic scenario in Loop Quantum Cosm…
The energy density of the universe today may be dominated by the vacuum energy of a slowly rolling scalar field. Making a quantum expansion around such a time dependent solution is found to break fundamental symmetries of quantum field…
A quantum cosmological bouncing model may exhibit an ambiguity stemming from the nonclassical nature of the background evolution: two classically equivalent theories can produce two qualitatively different potentials sourcing the…
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…
We consider the matter bounce scenario in Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC) for physical potentials that at early times provide a nearly matter dominated Universe in the contracting phase, having a reheating mechanism in the expanding phase,…
An oscillating universe cycles through a series of expansions and contractions. We propose a model in which ``phantom'' energy with a supernegative pressure ($p < - \rho$) grows rapidly and dominates the late-time expanding phase. The…
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…
A `bouncing' cosmological model is proposed in the context of a Weyl-invariant scalar-tensor (WIST) theory of gravity. In addition to being Weyl-invariant the theory is U(1)-symmetric and has a conserved global charge. The entire cosmic…
Using non-linear equation of state for pressure and density energy, we show that the universe is began with a smooth and isotropic bounce. We use a non-linear equation of state which is a binary mixture of perfect fluid and dark energy. We…
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 quantum cosmology with conformal matter comprising a perfect radiation fluid and a number of conformally coupled scalar fields. Focusing initially on the collective coordinates (minisuperspace) associated with homogeneous,…
It is shown that the cosmological singularity in isotropic minisuperspaces is naturally removed by quantum geometry. Already at the kinematical level, this is indicated by the fact that the inverse scale factor is represented by a bounded…
Alternative scenarios to the Big Bang singularity have been subject of intense research for several decades by now. Most popular in this sense have been frameworks were such singularity is replaced by a bounce around some minimal…
Ekpyrotic instantons describe the emergence of classical contracting universes out of the no-boundary quantum state. However, up to now these instantons ended in a big crunch singularity. We remedy this by adding a higher-derivative term,…
Loop quantum cosmology is an application of recent developments for a non-perturbative and background independent quantization of gravity to a cosmological setting. Characteristic properties of the quantization such as discreteness of…
It was recently realized that a model constructed from a Lee-Wick type scalar field theory yields, at the level of homogeneous and isotropic background cosmology, a bouncing cosmology. However, bouncing cosmologies induced by pressure-less…
We develop a non-singular bouncing cosmology using a non-trivial coupling of general relativity to fermionic fields. The usual Big Bang singularity is avoided thanks to a negative energy density contribution from the fermions. Our theory is…
Recently the mechanism was found which allows avoidance of the cosmological singularity within the semi-classical formulation of Loop Quantum Gravity. Numerical studies show that the presence of self-interaction potential of the scalar…
For bouncing cosmologies such as the ekpyrotic/cyclic scenarios we show that it is possible to make predictions for density perturbations which are independent of the details of the bouncing phase. This can be achieved, as in inflationary…
We discuss the asymmetry of cosmic background evolution in time with respect to the quantum bounce in the Loop Quantum Cosmology (LQC), employing the value of scalar field at the bounce $\phi_{\rm B}$. We use the Chaotic and the $R^2$…
Quantum cosmological models are commonly described by means of semiclassical approximations in which a smooth evolution of the expectation values of elementary geometry operators replaces the classical and singular dynamics. The advantage…