Quantum cosmology from three different perspectives

The meaning of the wave function of the Universe was actively discussed in 1980s. In most works on quantum cosmology it is accepted that the wave function is a probability amplitude for the Universe to have some space geometry, or to be found in some point of the Wheeler superspace. It seems that the wave function gives maximally objective description compatible with quantum theory. However, the probability distribution does not depend on time and does not take into account t...

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.

In this paper I will first outline an effective field theory for cosmology (EFTC) that is based on the Standard Model coupled to General Relativity and improved with Weyl symmetry. There are no new physical degrees of freedom in this theory, but what is new is an enlargement of the domain of the existing physical fields and of spacetime via the larger symmetry, thus curing the geodesic incompleteness of the traditional theory. Invoking the softer behavior of an underlying the...

One of the major issues confronting theoretical physics is finding a quantum theory of gravity and a resolution to the cosmological constant problem. It is believed that a true quantum theory of gravity will lead to a solution to the this problem. Finding a quantum theory of gravity has been a difficult issue mainly because of the high energy scale required for testing quantum gravity which is far the reach of current accelerators. Also general relativity does not possess a n...

Analytical and numerical methods are developed to analyze the quantum nature of the big bang in the setting of loop quantum cosmology. They enable one to explore the effects of quantum geometry both on the gravitational and matter sectors and significantly extend the known results on the resolution of the big bang singularity. Specifically, the following results are established for the homogeneous isotropic model with a massless scalar field: i) the scalar field is shown to s...

Loop quantum gravity is a mature theory. To proceed to explicit calculations in cosmology, it is necessary to make assumptions and simplifications based on the symmetries of the cosmological setting. Symmetry reduction is especially critical when dealing with cosmological perturbations. The present article reviews several approaches to the problem of building a consistent formalism that describes the dynamics of perturbations on a quantum spacetime and tries to address their ...

Concepts of quantum open systems and ideas of correlation dynamics in nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, as well as methods of closed-time-path effective action and influence functional in quantum field theory can be usefully applied for the analysis of quantum statistical processes in gravitation and cosmology. We raise a few conceptual questions and suggest some new directions of research on selected currrent topics on the physics of the early universe, such as entropy g...

The bare bones of a theory of quantum gravity are exposed. It may have the potential to solve the cosmological constant problem. Less certain is its behavior in the Newtonian limit.

Inflationary cosmology has, in the last few years,received a strong dose of support from observations. The fact that the fluctuation spectrum can be extracted from the inflationary scenario through an analysis that involves quantum field theory in curved space-time, and that it coincides with the observational data has lead to a certain complacency in the community, which prevents the critical analysis of the obscure spots in the derivation. We argue here briefly, as we have ...

We discuss predictions for cosmology which result from the scaling solution of functional flow equations for a quantum field theory of gravity. A scaling solution is necessary to render quantum gravity renormalizable. Our scaling solution is directly connected to the quantum effective action for the metric coupled to a scalar field. It includes all effects of quantum fluctuations and is invariant under general coordinate transformations. Solving the cosmological field equatio...