Related papers: Generalized Quantum Theory of Recollapsing Homogen…
Decoherent histories quantum theory is reformulated with the assumption that there is one "real" fine-grained history, specified in a preferred complete set of sum-over-histories variables. This real history is described by embedding it in…
We illustrate the crucial role played by decoherence (consistency of quantum histories) in extracting consistent quantum probabilities for alternative histories in quantum cosmology. Specifically, within a Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of a…
We sketch a quantum mechanical framework for the universe as a whole. Within that framework we propose a program for describing the ultimate origin in quantum cosmology of the quasiclassical domain of familiar experience and for…
In this universe, governed fundamentally by quantum mechanical laws, characterized by indeterminism and distributed probabilities, classical deterministic laws are applicable over a wide range of time, place, and scale. We review the origin…
We provide a quantum picture for the emergence of a bouncing cosmology, according to the idea that a semiclassical behavior of the Universe towards the singularity is not available in many relevant Minisuperspace models. In particular, we…
These are the author's lectures at the 1992 Les Houches Summer School, "Gravitation and Quantizations". They develop a generalized sum-over-histories quantum mechanics for quantum cosmology that does not require either a preferred notion of…
Homogeneous cosmological models with non-vanishing intrinsic curvature require a special treatment when they are quantized with loop quantum cosmological methods. Guidance from the full theory which is lost in this context can be replaced…
The canonical quantum theory of gravity -- Quantum Geometrodynamics (QG) is applied to the homogeneous Bianchi type IX cosmological model. As a result, the framework for the quantum theory of homogeneous cosmologies is developed. We show…
Contrary to the general belief, there has recently been quite a few examples of unitary evolution of quantum cosmological models. The present work gives more examples, namely Bianchi type VI and type II. These examples are important as they…
The Bianchi IX model has been used often to investigate the structure close to singularities of general relativity. Its classical chaos is expected to have, via the BKL scenario, implications even for the approach to general inhomogeneous…
We analyse the classical and quantum dynamics of a Bianchi I model in the presence of a small negative cosmological constant characterizing its evolution in term of the dust-time dualism. We demonstrate that in a canonical metric approach,…
We study a quantum Bianchi type I model in which the dynamical variables of the corresponding minisuperspace obey the generalized Heisenberg algebra. Such a generalized uncertainty principle has its origin in the existence of a minimal…
We give an explicit, rigorous framework for calculating quantum probabilities in a model theory of quantum gravity. Specifically, we construct the decoherence functional for the Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of a flat…
Assuming that Quantum Mechanics is universal and that it can be applied over all scales, then the Universe is allowed to be in a quantum superposition of states, where each of them can correspond to a different space-time geometry. How can…
We compare in some detail Polymer Quantum Mechanics and the Generalized Uncertainty Principle approach to clarify to what extent we can treat them on the same footing. We show that, while on a semiclassical level they may be formulated as…
We investigate the possibility of assigning consistent probabilities to sets of histories characterized by whether they enter a particular subspace of the Hilbert space of a closed system during a given time interval. In particular we…
We study coherent states for Bianchi type I cosmological models, as examples of semiclassical states for time-reparametrization invariant systems. This simple model allows us to study explicitly the relationship between exact semiclassical…
Three ideas are introduced that when brought together characterize the realistic quasiclassical realms of our quantum universe as particular kinds of sets of alternative coarse-grained histories defined by quasiclassical variables: (1)…
The canonical theory of $N=1$ supergravity is applied to Bianchi class A spatially homogeneous cosmologies. The full set of quantum constraints are then solved with the possible ordering ambiguity taken into account by introducing a free…
We consider some aspects of the global evolution problem of Hamiltonian homogeneous, anisotropic cosmologies derived from a purely quadratic action functional of the scalar curvature. We show that models can isotropize in the positive…