Related papers: Wavefunction of the Universe on the Landscape
This article reviews recent developments in the study of universes with a positive cosmological constant in string theory.
The most puzzling issue in the foundations of quantum mechanics is perhaps that of the status of the wave function of a system in a quantum universe. Is the wave function objective or subjective? Does it represent the physical state of the…
When most people think of physics, they think of what they learned in high school physics: that the world is fundamentally predictable. Given the position and velocity of a particle in space, it should be possible to predict its position at…
An earlier paper points out that a quantum treatment of the string landscape is necessary. It suggests that the wavefunction of the universe is mobile in the landscape until the universe reaches a meta-stable site with its cosmological…
A complete model of the universe needs at least three parts: (1) a complete set of physical variables and dynamical laws for them, (2) the correct solution of the dynamical laws, and (3) the connection with conscious experience. In quantum…
We develop a quantum-cosmological framework in which the inflationary potential emerges from the structure of the wave function of the universe rather than being postulated. Starting from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for a flat…
This is a summary of lectures in superstring cosmology given by the author at the CORFU 2009 School and Workshops "Theory - Cosmology - Phenomenology", Corfu Institute, Greece, Sept 6-13, 2009. These lectures are based on some recent…
We review the state of the field of gravitational wave astrophysics, framing the challenges, current observations, and future prospects within the context of the predictions of Einstein's theory of general relativity.
This brief review, intended for high energy and astrophysics researchers, explores the implications of recent theoretical advances in string theory and the Swampland program for understanding bounds on the structure of positive potentials…
When the universe is treated as a quantum system, it is described by a wave function. This wave function is a function not only of the matter fields, but also of spacetime. The no-boundary proposal is the idea that the wave function should…
We investigate whether quantum theory can be understood as the continuum limit of a mechanical theory, in which there is a huge, but finite, number of classical 'worlds', and quantum effects arise solely from a universal interaction between…
We present two methods for describing, from a pedagogical point of view, the solutions of Einstein's equations applied to a homogeneous and isotropic universe. In the first method, we define an effective gravitational potential of the…
Cosmic strings are generic cosmological predictions of many extensions of the Standard Model of particle physics, such as a $U(1)^\prime$ symmetry breaking phase transition in the early universe or remnants of superstring theory. Unlike…
This paper is a synthesis of talks I gave at the Cargese Workshop in June 2004 and the Munich Conference on Superstring Vacua in November 2004. I present arguments which show that the landscape of string theory is not a well established…
In a Wheeler-de Witt approach to quantum string cosmology, the present state of the Universe arises from the scattering and reflection of the wave function representing the initial string vacuum in superspace. This scenario is described and…
This is the written version of a short talk given at the University of Leipzig in December 1998. It reviews some general aspects of string theory from the viewpoint of the search for an unifying theory. Here, special emphasis lies on the…
Several years ago the so-called quantum geometrodynamics in extended phase space was proposed. The main role in this version of quantum geometrodynamics is given to a wave function that carries information about geometry of the Universe as…
This chapter reexamines wave function realism (WFR) through the lens of phenomenology. We begin by situating WFR within the broader debate about the ontology of the quantum state and the temptation to "read off" metaphysics from…
It has recently been shown that any observed potential can in principle be generated via quantum mechanics using a suitable wavefunction. In this work, we consider the concrete example of the gravitational potential experienced by a test…
Recent astronomical observations indicate that the universe is accelerating. We argue that generic quintessence models that accommodate the present day acceleration tend to accelerate eternally. As a consequence the resulting spacetimes…