Gielen, S. orcid.org/0000-0002-8653-5430 and Turok, N. (2016) Perfect quantum cosmological bounce. Physical Review Letters, 117 (2). ISSN 0031-9007
Abstract
We study quantum cosmology with conformal matter comprising a perfect radiation fluid and a number of conformally coupled scalar fields. Focusing initially on the collective coordinates (minisuperspace) associated with homogeneous, isotropic backgrounds, we are able to perform the quantum gravity path integral exactly. The evolution describes a “perfect bounce”, in which the Universe passes smoothly through the singularity. We extend the analysis to spatially flat, anisotropic universes, treated exactly, and to generic inhomogeneous, anisotropic perturbations treated at linear and nonlinear order. This picture provides a natural, unitary description of quantum mechanical evolution across a cosmological bounce. We provide evidence for a semiclassical description in which all fields pass “around” the cosmological singularity along complex classical paths.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © 2016 American Physical Society. Reproduced in accordance with the publisher's self-archiving policy. |
Keywords: | hep-th; hep-th; gr-qc |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Science (Sheffield) > School of Mathematics and Statistics (Sheffield) |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 03 Oct 2019 15:13 |
Last Modified: | 04 Oct 2019 01:53 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | American Physical Society (APS) |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1103/physrevlett.117.021301 |
Related URLs: | |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:151724 |