A Measure of Cosmological Acceleration

We use an invariant operator to study the quantum gravitational back-reaction to scalar perturbations during chaotic inflation. Our operator is the inverse covariant d'Alembertian expressed as a function of the local value of the inflaton. In the slow roll approximation this observable gives $-1/(2 H^2)$ for an arbitrary homogeneous and isotropic geometry, hence it is a good candidate for measuring the local expansion rate even when the spacetime is not perfectly homogeneous ...

Quantum gravitational back-reaction offers a simultaneous explanation for why the cosmological constant is so small and a natural model of inflation in which scalars play no role. In this talk I review previous work and present a simple model of the mechanism in which the induced stress tensor behaves like negative vacuum energy with a density proportional to $-\Lambda/{8\pi G} \cdot (G \Lambda)^2 \cdot H t$. The model also highlights the essential role of causality in back-r...

I argue that cosmological data from the epoch of primordial inflation is catalyzing the maturation of quantum gravity from speculation into a hard science. I explain why quantum gravitational effects from primordial inflation are observable. I then review what has been done, both theoretically and observationally, and what the future holds. I also discuss what this tells us about quantum gravity.

We describe our recent calculation of two-loop corrections to the expansion rate of an initially inflating universe on the manifold $T^3 \times \Re$. If correct, our result proves that quantum gravitational effects slow the rate of inflation by an amount which becomes non-perturbatively large at late times. In a preliminary discussion of basic issues we show that the expansion rate is a gauge invariant, and that our ultraviolet regulator does not introduce spurious time depen...

We review some perturbative results obtained in quantum gravity in an accelerating cosmological background. We then describe a class of non-local, purely gravitational models which have the correct structure to reproduce the leading infrared logarithms of quantum gravitational back-reaction during the inflationary regime. These models end inflation in a distinctive phase of oscillations with slight and short violations of the weak energy condition and should, when coupled to ...

This thesis is dedicated to studying cosmological inflation, which is a period of accelerated expansion in the very early Universe that is required to explain the observed anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background. Inflation, when combined with quantum mechanics, also provides the over-densities that grow into the structure of the modern Universe. Understanding perturbations during this period of inflation is important, and we study these perturbations in detail in this...

Inflationary quantum gravity simplifies drastically in the leading logarithm approximation. We show that the only counterterm which contributes in this limit is the 1-loop renormalization of the cosmological constant. We go further to make a simplifying assumption about the operator dynamics at leading logarithm order. This assumption is explicitly implemented at 1- and 2-loop orders, and we describe how it can be implemented nonperturbatively. We also compute the expectation...

Quantum gravitational back-reaction offers the potential of simultaneously resolving the problem of the cosmological constant and providing a natural model of inflation in which scalars play no special role. In this model inflation begins because the cosmological constant is not unnaturally small. It ends through the accumulated gravitational interaction between virtual gravitons which are ripped apart by the inflationary expansion. Although perturbative techniques can be use...

We define a scalar measure of the local expansion rate based on how astronomers determine the Hubble constant. Our observable is the inverse conformal d'Alembertian acting on a unit ``standard candle.'' Because this quantity is an integral over the past lightcone of the observation point it provides a manifestly causal and covariant technique for averaging over small fluctuations. For an exactly homogeneous and isotropic spacetime our scalar gives minus one half times the inv...

In loop quantum gravity, modifications to the geometrical density cause a self-interacting scalar field to accelerate away from a minimum of its potential. In principle, this mechanism can generate the conditions that subsequently lead to slow-roll inflation. The consequences for this mechanism of various quantization ambiguities arising within loop quantum cosmology are considered. For the case of a quadratic potential, it is found that some quantization procedures are more ...