Related papers: An introduction to quantum cosmology
This is a contribution to a book on quantum gravity and philosophy. I discuss nature and origin of the problem of quantum gravity. I examine the knowledge that may guide us in addressing this problem, and the reliability of such knowledge.…
The development of quantum cosmology, in which Stephen Hawking played a crucial role, has frequently encountered substantial conceptual and technical difficulties related to the problem of time in quantum gravity and to general issues…
These Lecture Notes provide an elementary introduction to the quantization of two-dimensional quantum gravity. Nothing beyond undergratuate physics and mathematic is required. Explicit formulas for the partition functions for universes with…
A discursive, non-technical, analysis is made of some of the basic issues that arise in almost any approach to quantum gravity, and of how these issues stand in relation to recent developments in the field. Specific topics include the…
The purpose of this contribution is to give an introduction to quantum geometry and loop quantum gravity for a wide audience of both physicists and mathematicians. From a physical point of view the emphasis will be on conceptual issues…
In order to account for the observable Universe, any comprehensive theory or model of cosmology must draw from many disciplines of physics, including gauge theories of strong and weak interactions, the hydrodynamics and microphysics of…
Time in quantum gravity is not a well-defined notion, despite its central role in the very definition of dynamics. Using the formalism of quantum geometrodynamics, we shortly review the problem and illustrate it with two proposed solutions.…
An encyclopedia article on mathematical aspects of quantum field theory in curved spacetime. Section titles are: Introduction and preliminaries; Construction of *-algebra for a real linear scalar field on globally hyperbolic spacetimes and…
The purpose of these lecture notes is to provide readers, who have some mathematical background but little or no exposure to quantum mechanics and quantum computation, with enough material to begin reading the research literature in quantum…
This is one chapter of the collection of problems in cosmology, in which we assemble the problems, with solutions, that concern one of the most distinctive features of general relativity and cosmology---the horizons. The first part gives an…
We start by presenting a brief summary of fractional quantum mechanics, as means to convey a motivation towards fractional quantum cosmology. Subsequently, such application is made concrete with the assistance of a case study. Specifically,…
Loop Quantum Gravity is a nonperturbative and background independent program for the quantization of General Relativity. Its underlying formalism has been applied successfully to the study of cosmological spacetimes, both to test the…
Over the last three years, a number of fundamental physical issues were addressed in loop quantum gravity. These include: A statistical mechanical derivation of the horizon entropy, encompassing astrophysically interesting black holes as…
This is a very gentle introductory course on quantum mechanics aimed at the first years of the undergraduate level. The basic concepts are introduced, with many applications and illustrations. Contains 12 short chapters of equal length,…
These lectures are intended to give a pedagogical introduction to the main current picture of the very early universe. After elementary reviews of general relativity and of the standard Big Bang model, the following subjects are discussed:…
Quantum gravity has matured over the last decade to a theory which can tell in a precise and explicit way how cosmological singularities of general relativity are removed. A branch of the universe "before" the classical big bang is obtained…
The aim of these notes is to elucidate some aspects of quantum field theory in curved spacetime, especially those relating to the notion of particles. A selection of issues relevant to wave-particle duality is given. The case of a generic…
The physics of quantum gravity is discussed within the framework of topological quantum field theory. Some of the principles are illustrated with examples taken from theories in which space-time is three dimensional.
Even the uninitiated will know that Quantum Field Theory cannot be introduced systematically in just four lectures. I try to give a reasonably connected outline of part of it, from second quantization to the path-integral technique in…
After an overview of the physical motivations for studying quantum gravity, we reprint THE FORMAL STRUCTURE OF QUANTUM GRAVITY, i.e. the 1978 Cargese Lectures by Professor B.S. DeWitt, with kind permission of Springer. The reader is…