Quantum Gravity In De Sitter Space

In these lectures we give a review of recent attempts to understand quantum gravity on de Sitter spaces. In particular, we discuss the holographic correspondence between de Sitter gravity and conformal field theories proposed by Hull and by Strominger, and how this may be reconciled with the finite-dimensional Hilbert space proposal by Banks and Fischler. Furthermore we review the no-go theorems that forbid an embedding of de Sitter spaces in string theory, and discuss how th...

This is a summary of two lectures I gave at the Davis Conference on Cosmic Inflation. I explain why the quantum theory of de Sitter (dS) space should have a finite number of states and explore gross aspects of the hypothetical quantum theory, which can be gleaned from semiclassical considerations. The constraints of a self-consistent measurement theory in such a finite system imply that certain mathematical features of the theory are unmeasurable, and that the theory is conse...

Perturbative gravity about a de Sitter background motivates a global picture of quantum dynamics in `eternal de Sitter space,' the theory of states which are asymptotically de Sitter to both future and past. Eternal de Sitter physics is described by a finite dimensional Hilbert space in which each state is precisely invariant under the full de Sitter group. This resolves a previously-noted tension between de Sitter symmetry and finite entropy. Observables, implications for Bo...

A review of some errors made by the author and others in their search for quantum models of gravity in cosmological space-times that asymptote to de Sitter (dS) space in the future. The "static de Sitter Hamiltonian", which measures the energy of localized objects in a static patch, is not a conserved quantity. The static time translation diffeomorphism of eternal dS space is a gauge symmetry, and the static energy is an approximate property of meta-stable constrained states....

This work applies the formalism developed in our earlier paper to de Sitter space. After exactly solving the relevant Heisenberg equations of motion we give a detailed discussion of the subtleties associated with defining physical states and the emergence of the classical theory. This computation provides the striking result that quantum corrections to this long wavelength limit of gravity eliminate the problem of the big crunch. We also show that the same corrections lead to...

It is believed that gravity will be explained in the framework of the existing quantum theory when one succeeds in eliminating divergencies at large momenta or small distances (although the phenomenon of gravity has been observed only at nonrelativistic momenta and large distances). We consider a quantum-mechanical description of systems of two free particles in de Sitter invariant quantum theory (i.e. the paper contains nothing but the two-body de Sitter kinematics). In our ...

de Sitter symmetry on quantum level implies that operators describing a given system satisfy commutation relations of the de Sitter algebra. This approach gives a new perspective on fundamental notions of quantum theory. We discuss applications of the approach to the cosmological constant problem, gravity, and particle theory.

We describe a simple gauge-fixing that leads to a construction of a quantum Hilbert space for quantum gravity in an asymptotically Anti de Sitter spacetime, valid to all orders of perturbation theory. The construction is motivated by a relationship of the phase space of gravity in asymptotically Anti de Sitter spacetime to a cotangent bundle. We describe what is known about this relationship and some extensions that might plausibly be true. A key fact is that, under certain c...

The purpose of this brief article is to clarify certain distortions of the history of ideas about the quantum theory of de Sitter space that have appeared in recent literature.

This is my contribution to the Festschrift honoring Stephen Hawking on his 60th birthday. Twenty-five years ago, Gibbons and Hawking laid out the semi-classical properties of de Sitter space. After a summary of their main results, I discuss some further quantum aspects that have since been understood. The largest de Sitter black hole displays an intriguing pattern of instabilities, which can render the boundary structure arbitrarily complicated. I review entropy bounds specif...