Related papers: Time (a-)symmetry in a recollapsing quantum univer…
Time-asymmetric spacetime structures, in particular those representing black holes and the expansion of the universe, are intimately related to other arrows of time, such as the second law and the retardation of radiation. The nature of the…
We continue our analysis of a quantum cosmology model describing a flat Friedmann--Lema\^itre--Robertson--Walker universe filled with a (free) massless scalar field and an arbitrary perfect fluid. For positive energy density in the scalar…
We investigate the cosmological behavior in a universe governed by time asymmetric extensions of general relativity, which is a novel modified gravity based on the addition of new, time-asymmetric, terms on the Hamiltonian framework, in a…
Singularity theorems demonstrate the inevitable breakdown of the concept of continuous, classical spacetime under highly general conditions. Quantum gravity is expected to intervene to avoid singularities and models so far hint towards…
It is shown that the tunneling effect in quantum cosmology is possible not only at the very beginning or the very end of the evolution, but also at the moment of maximum expansion of the universe. A positive curvature expanding Friedmann…
We study the homogeneous gravitational collapse of a spherical cloud of matter in a super-renormalizable and asymptotically free theory of gravity. We find a picture that differs substantially from the classical scenario. The central…
Quantum effects are expected to modify the cosmological dynamics of the early universe while maintaining some (potentially discrete) notion of space-time structure. In one approach, loop quantum cosmology, current models are shown here to…
General relativity predicts a singularity in the beginning of the universe being called big bang. Recent developments in loop quantum cosmology avoid the singularity and the big bang is replaced by a big bounce. A classical theory of…
In the usual formulation of quantum theory, time is a global classical evolution parameter, not a local quantum observable. On the other hand, both canonical quantum gravity (which lacks fundamental time-evolution parameter) and the…
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…
We show that the Wheeler-DeWitt equation with a consistent boundary condition is only compatible with an arrow of time that formally reverses in a recollapsing universe. Consistency of these opposite arrows is facilitated by quantum effects…
An approach is presented to address singularities in general relativity using a complex Riemannian spacetime extension. We demonstrate how this method can be applied to both black hole and cosmological singularities, specifically focusing…
Recent results show that important singularities in General Relativity can be naturally described in terms of finite and invariant canonical geometric objects. Consequently, one can write field equations which are equivalent to Einstein's…
We explore the consequences of requiring that quantum theories of gravity be unitary, mostly focusing on simple cosmological models to illustrate the main points. We show that unitarity for a clock that encounters a classical singularity at…
It is shown that an exactly static and spherically symmetric black hole event horizon cannot be embedded in a time-dependent geometry. Forcing it to do so results in a naked null singularity at the would-be horizon. Therefore, since the…
Quantum mechanical unitarity in our universe is challenged both by the notion of the big bang, in which nothing transforms into something, and the expansion of space, in which something transforms into more something. This motivates the…
A renormalizable theory of quantum gravity coupled to a dilaton and conformal matter in two space-time dimensions is analyzed. The theory is shown to be exactly solvable classically. Included among the exact classical solutions are…
We consider the late-time accelerated universe in the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) spacetime with a nonzero curvature, and investigate cosmological models when the cosmic fluid is taken to be inhomogeneous and viscous (bulk viscous),…
In approaches to quantum gravity, where smooth spacetime is an emergent approximation of a discrete Planckian fundamental structure, any standard effective field theoretical description will miss part of the degrees of freedom and thus…
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…