Related papers: Quantum Field Theory in a Topology Changing Univer…
The Lorentzian Hamiltonian constraint is solved for isotropic loop quantum cosmology coupled to a massless scalar field. As in the Euclidean case, the discreteness of quantum geometry removes the classical singularity from the quantum…
We study canonical quantization of a closed Euclidean universe with a cosmological constant and a massless scalar field. The closed Euclidean universe with an ordinary matter state can be matched at a finite radius only with the closed…
The condition for the unitarity of a quantum field is investigated in semiclassical gravity from the Wheeler-DeWitt equation. It is found that the quantum field preserves unitarity asymptotically in the Lorentzian universe, but does not…
In these two lectures I describe the difficulties one encounters when trying to construct a framework in which to describe topology change in classical general relativity where one sticks to the assumption of an everywhere non-singular…
Quantum gravity is studied nonperturbatively in the case in which space has a boundary with finite area. A natural set of boundary conditions is studied in the Euclidean signature theory, in which the pullback of the curvature to the…
We argue that the Lorentzian path integral is a better starting point for quantum cosmology than the Euclidean version. In particular, we revisit the mini-superspace calculation of the Feynman path integral for quantum gravity with a…
The scheme of using the Chern-Simons action to regularize the gravitational Hamiltonian constraint is extended to including the Lorentzian term in the $k=0$ cosmological model. The Euclidean term and the Lorenzian term are thus regularized…
No theory of four-dimensional quantum gravity exists as yet. In this situation the two-dimensional theory, which can be analyzed by conventional field-theoretical methods, can serve as a toy model for studying some aspects of quantum…
Timelike Liouville field theory is a candidate model for positive curvature two-dimensional quantum gravity, but a mathematically controlled Lorentzian formulation has remained elusive. In this paper we construct the theory on the cylinder…
We study space-time symmetries in scalar quantum field theory (including interacting theories) on static space-times. We first consider Euclidean quantum field theory on a static Riemannian manifold, and show that the isometry group is…
A well-defined regularized path integral for Lorentzian quantum gravity in three and four dimensions is constructed, given in terms of a sum over dynamically triangulated causal space-times. Each Lorentzian geometry and its associated…
The properties of the quantum universe on extremely small spacetime scales are studied in the semi-classical approach to the well-defined quantum model. It is shown that near the initial cosmological singularity point quantum gravity…
Physical spacetime geometry follows from some effective thermodynamics of quantum states of all fields and particles described in frames of General Relativity. In the sense of pure field theoretical Einstein's point of view on gravitation…
The semi-classical approach to the quantum geometrodynamical model is used for the description of the properties of the universe on extremely small spacetime scales. Quantum theory for a homogeneous, isotropic and closed universe is…
A classical dynamical system in a four-dimensional Euclidean space with universal time is considered. The space is hypothesized to be originally occupied by a uniform substance, pictured as a liquid, which at some time became supercooled.…
The quantization of Lorentzian or Euclidean 2+1 gravity by canonical methods is a well-studied problem. However, the constraints of 2+1 gravity are those of a topological field theory and therefore resemble very little those of the…
Loop Quantum Gravity faces challenges in constructing a well-defined Hamiltonian constraint and understanding the quantum notion of time. In this paper these issues are studied by quantizing the $U(1)^3$ model, a simplified system…
Using Monte-Carlo computer simulations, we study the impact of matter fields on the geometry of a typical quantum universe in the CDT model of lattice quantum gravity. The quantum universe has the size of a few Planck lengths and the…
We construct a positive complexifier, differentiable almost everywhere on the classical phase space of real triads and $SU(2)$ connections, which generates a Wick Transform from Euclidean to Lorentzian gravity everywhere except on a phase…
This paper contains a collection of essays on nonlocal phenomena in quantum field theory, gravity and cosmology. Mechanisms of nonlocal contributions to the quantum effective action are discussed within the covariant perturbation expansion…