Related papers: Loop Quantum Cosmology II: Volume Operators
The search for a quantum theory of gravity is one of the major challenges facing theoretical physics today. While no complete theory exists, a promising avenue of research is the loop quantum gravity approach. In this approach, quantum…
The spherically symmetric volume operator is discussed and all its eigenstates and eigenvalues are computed. Even though the operator is more complicated than its homogeneous analog, the spectra are related in the sense that the larger…
Within the context of loop quantum gravity there are several operators which measure geometry quantities. This work examines two of these operators, volume and angle, to study quantum geometry at a single spin network vertex - ``an atom of…
Loop quantum cosmological methods are extended to homogeneous models in diagonalized form. It is shown that the diagonalization leads to a simplification of the volume operator such that its spectrum can be determined explicitly. This…
We show that for basically all states, the evolution of the expectation value of the volume operator in Wheeler-DeWitt and various homogenous isotropic loop quantum comology (LQC) models ($k=0$, coupled to massless scalar field and without…
A covariant spin-foam formulation of quantum gravity has been recently developed, characterized by a kinematics which appears to match well the one of canonical loop quantum gravity. In particular, the geometrical observable giving the area…
The framework of quantum symmetry reduction is applied to loop quantum gravity with respect to transitively acting symmetry groups. This allows to test loop quantum gravity in a large class of minisuperspaces and to investigate its features…
Loop quantum cosmology in (b, v) variables, which is governed by a unit step size difference equation, is embedded into a full theory context based on similar variables. A full theory context here means a theory of quantum gravity arrived…
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…
The volume operator plays a central role in both the kinematics and dynamics of canonical approaches to quantum gravity which are based on algebras of generalized Wilson loops. We introduce a method for simplifying its spectral analysis,…
We describe preliminary results of a detailed numerical analysis of the volume operator as formulated by Ashtekar and Lewandowski. Due to a simplified explicit expression for its matrix elements, it is possible for the first time to treat…
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…
We apply the nonstandard loop quantum cosmology method to quantize a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model with a free scalar field and the cosmological constant $\Lambda>0$. Modification of the Hamiltonian in terms of loop…
In loop quantum cosmology, the Hamiltonian reduces to a finite difference operator. We study the initial singularity and the large volume limit against the ambiguities in the discretisation and the operator ordering within a homogeneous,…
The volume operator is an important kinematical quantity in the non-perturbative approach to four-dimensional quantum gravity in the connection formulation. We give a general algorithm for computing its spectrum when acting on four-valent…
A functional calculus on the space of (generalized) connections was recently introduced without any reference to a background metric. It is used to continue the exploration of the quantum Riemannian geometry. Operators corresponding to…
Quantum cosmology is traditionally formulated in a minisuperspace setting, implicitly averaging fields over space to obtain homogeneous models. For universal reasons related to the uncertainty principle, quantum corrections then depend on…
We investigate the spectral properties of the volume operator in quantum gravity in the framework of a previously introduced lattice discretization. The presence of a well-defined scalar product in this approach permits us to make definite…
In the framework of loop quantum cosmology anomaly free quantizations of the Hamiltonian constraint for Bianchi class A, locally rotationally symmetric and isotropic models are given. Basic ideas of the construction in (non-symmetric) loop…
2+1 gravity coupled to a massless scalar field has an initial singularity when the spatial slices are compact. The quantized model is used here to investigate several issues of quantum gravity. The spectrum of the volume operator is studied…