In this paper we investigate dynamics of the modified loop quantum cosmology models using dynamical systems methods. Modifications considered come from the choice of the different field strength operator $\hat{F}$ and result in different forms of the effective Hamiltonian. Such an ambiguity of the choice of this expression from some class of functions is allowed in the framework of loop quantisation. Our main goal is to show how such modifications can influence the bouncing universe scenario in the loop quantum cosmology. In effective models considered we classify all evolutional paths for all admissible initial conditions. The dynamics is reduced to the form of a dynamical system of the Newtonian type on a 2-dimensional phase plane. These models are equivalent dynamically to the FRW models with the decaying effective cosmological term parametrised by the canonical variable $p$ (or by the scale factor $a$). We find that for the positive cosmological constant there is a class of oscillating models without the initial and final singularities. The new phenomenon is the appearance of curvature singularities for the finite values of the scale factor, but we find that for the positive cosmological constant these singularities can be avoided. For the positive cosmological constant the evolution begins at the asymptotic state in the past represented by the deSitter contracting (deS$_{-}$) spacetime or the static Einstein universe H=0 or $H=-\infty$ state and reaches the deSitter expanding state (deS$_{+}$), the state H=0 or $H=+\infty$ state. In the case of the negative cosmological constant we obtain the past and future asymptotic states as the Einstein static universes.
The Hamiltonian constraint of scalar-tensor theories in the Jordan frame is quantised using three quantisation prescriptions in loop quantum cosmology, from which we obtain three different effective Hamiltonian constraints. The corresponding effective equations of motion derived from these effective Hamiltonian constraints turn out to be drastically different. The implications of each set of effective equations of motion are discussed in detail. In the latter half of this paper, as a concrete example, we study the effective dynamics of a specific model with the non-minimal coupling function $F…
We quantise and solve the dynamics of gravitational waves in a quantum Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker spacetime filled with perfect fluid. The classical model is formulated canonically. The Hamiltonian constraint is de-parametrised by setting a fluid variable as the internal clock. The obtained reduced (i.e. physical) phase space is then quantised. Our quantisation procedure is implemented in accordance with two different phase space symmetries, namely, the Weyl-Heisenberg symmetry for the perturbation variables, and the affine symmetry for the background variables. As an appealing outcom…
It is well known that the Jordan and Einstein frames are equivalent to each other in classical Brans-Dicke theory, provided that one and the same metric is employed for the physical space-time. Nevertheless, it is shown in this paper by cosmological models that the loop quantisation in the two different frames will lead to inequivalent effective theories. Analytical solutions have been found in both frames for the effective loop quantum Brans-Dicke cosmology without potential in: (i) vacuum case, (ii) additional massless scalar field case. In Einstein frame the analytical solution for the Bran…
In this work, we present a complete analysis of the quantisation of the classical Brans-Dicke Theory using the method of affine quantisation in the Hamiltonian description of the theory. The affine quantisation method is based on the symmetry of the phase-space of the system, in this case the (positive) half-plane, that is identified with the affine group. We consider a FLRW-type spacetime, and since the scale factor is always positive, the affine method seems to be more suited than the canonincal quantisation for our Quantum Cosmology. We find the wave function of the Brans-Dicke universe, an…
The U(1)$^3$ model for 3+1 Euclidian signature general relativity is an interacting, generally covariant field theory with two physical polarisations that shares many features of Lorentzian general relativity. In particular, it displays a non-trivial realisation of the hypersurface deformation algebroid with non-trivial, i.e. phase space dependent structure functions rather than structure constants. In this paper we show that the model admits {\it an exact quantisation}. The quantisation rests on the observation that for this model and in the chosen representation of the canonical commutation …
In the loop approach to the quantisation of gravity, one uses a Hilbert space which is too singular for some operators to be realised as derivatives. This is usually addressed by instead using finite difference operators at the Planck scale, a process known as ``polymerisation''. In the symmetry reduced example of loop cosmology, we study an ambiguity in the regularisation which we relate to the ambiguity of fixing the coefficients of infinitely many higher curvature counter terms augmenting the Einstein-Hilbert action. Thus the situation is comparable to he one in a naive perturbative treatme…
In this paper we study the flat (k=0) cosmological FRW model with holonomy corrections of Loop Quantum Gravity. The considered universe contains a massless scalar field and the cosmological constant Lambda. We find analytical solutions for this model in different configurations and investigate its dynamical behaviour in the whole phase space. We show the explicit influence of Lambda on the qualitative and quantitative character of solutions. Even in the case of positive Lambda the oscillating solutions without the initial and final singularity appear as a generic case for some quantisation sch…
The way physics of loop quantum gravity is affected by the underlying quantization ambiguities is an open question. We address this issue in the context of loop quantum cosmology using gauge-covariant fluxes. Consequences are explored for two choices of regularization parameters: $μ_0$ and $\bar μ$ in presence of a positive cosmological constant, and two choices of regularizations of the Hamiltonian constraint in loop quantum cosmology: the standard and the Thiemann regularization. We show that novel features of singularity resolution and bounce, occurring due to gauge-covariant fluxes, exist …
The absence of isotropic singularity in loop quantum cosmology can be understood in an effective classical description as the universe exhibiting a Big Bounce. We show that with scalar matter field, the big bounce is generic in the sense that it is independent of quantization ambiguities and details of scalar field dynamics. The volume of the universe at the bounce point is parametrized by a single parameter. It provides a minimum length scale which serves as a cut-off for computations of density perturbations thereby influencing their amplitudes.
Recently a consistent non-perturbative quantization of the Schwarzschild interior resulting in a bounce from black hole to white hole geometry has been obtained by loop quantizing the Kantowski-Sachs vacuum spacetime. As in other spacetimes where the singularity is dominated by the Weyl part of the spacetime curvature, the structure of the singularity is highly anisotropic in the Kantowski-Sachs vacuum spacetime. As a result the bounce turns out to be in general asymmetric creating a large mass difference between the parent black hole and the child white hole. In this manuscript, we investigat…
The spatially closed Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker model in loop quantum cosmology admits two inequivalent consistent quantizations: one based on expressing the field strength in terms of the holonomies over closed loops, and, another using a connection operator and open holonomies. Using the effective dynamics, we investigate the phenomenological differences between the two quantizations for the single fluid and the two fluid scenarios with various equations of state, including the phantom matter. We show that a striking difference between the two quantizations is the existence of two d…
We show that the factor ordering ambiguities associated with the loop quantisation of the gravitational part of the cosmological Hamiltonian constraint, disappear at the level of Wheeler-DeWitt equation only for a particular choice of lattice refinement model, which coincides with constraints imposed from phenomenological and consistency arguments.
In the quantum treatment of collapsing matter, a viable mode analysis is supposed to give information regarding emission during the collapse. Nevertheless, partly owing to operator ordering ambiguities involved in a typical quantum gravity analysis, the availability of such well-defined modes is not guaranteed. We study the mode decomposition of the unitarily evolving wave packet constructed for the quantum model of spherically symmetric dust collapsing in a marginally bound Lema\^ıtre-Tolman-Bondi (LTB) model. We identify the observable depicting mode decomposition, and using the freedom of o…
The canonical approach to quantum gravity has been put on a firm mathematical foundation in the recent decades. Even the quantum dynamics can be rigorously defined, however, due to the tremendously non-polynomial character of the gravitational interaction, the corresponding Wheeler-DeWitt operator valued distribution suffers from quantisation ambiguities that need to be fixed. In a very recent series of works we have employed methods from constructive quantum field theory in order to address those ambiguities. Constructive QFT trades quantum fields for random variables and measures thereby phr…
We construct two reduced quantum theories for the Oppenheimer-Snyder model, respectively taking the point of view of the comoving and the exterior stationary observer, using affine coherent states quantization. Investigations of the quantum corrected dynamics reveal that both observers can see a bounce, although for the exterior observer certain quantization ambiguities have to be chosen correctly. The minimal radius for this bounce as seen from the stationary observer is then shown to always be outside of the photon sphere. Possible avenues to lower this minimal radius and reclaim black holes…
Since there are quantization ambiguities in constructing the Hamiltonian constraint operator in isotropic loop quantum cosmology, it is crucial to check whether the key features of loop quantum cosmology, such as the quantum bounce and effective scenario, are robust against the ambiguities. In this paper, we consider a typical quantization ambiguity arising from the quantization of the field strength of the gravitational connection. An alternative Hamiltonian constraint operator is constructed, which is shown to have the correct classical limit by the semiclassical analysis. The effective Hami…
In this paper we calculate $\mathcal{O}(μ^4)$ corrections from holonomies in the Loop Quantum Gravity, usually not taken into account. Allowance of the corrections of this kind is equivalent with the choice of the new quatization scheme. Quantization ambiguities in the Loop Quantum Cosmology allow for this additional freedom and presented corrections are consistent with the standard approach. We apply these corrections to the flat FRW cosmological model and calculate the modified Friedmann equation. We show that the bounce appears in the models with the standard $\mathcal{O}(μ^2)$ quantization…
The volume operator plays a pivotal role for the quantum dynamics of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). It is essential in order to construct Triad operators that enter the Hamiltonian constraint and which become densely defined operators on the full Hilbert space even though in the classical theory the triad becomes singular when classical GR breaks down. The expression for the volume and triad operators derives from the quantisation of the fundamental electric flux operator of LQG by a complicated regularisation procedure. In fact, there are two inequivalent volume operators available in the litera…
We formulate the transition from decelerated to accelerated expansion as a bounce in connection space and study its quantum cosmology, knowing that reflections are notorious for bringing quantum effects to the fore. We use a formalism for obtaining a time variable via the demotion of the constants of Nature to integration constants, and focus on a toy Universe containing only radiation and a cosmological constant $Λ$ for its simplicity. We find that, beside the usual factor ordering ambiguities, there is an ambiguity in the order of the quantum equation, leading to two distinct theories: one s…
We investigate how the quantum dynamics of gravitational models depends on the internal clock employed in quantisation. Our previous result on the quantum Friedmann-Lemaitre model demonstrates that almost all physical predictions from the quantum cosmological dynamics, e.g. the scale of the quantum bounce or the number of bounces, depend on the choice of internal clock. In the present paper we show that there exists an important prediction concerning the quantum dynamics which holds in all internal clocks. Namely, we prove that any quantum state asymptotically, i.e. away from a quantum interac…
A large number of models have been analyzed in loop quantum cosmology, using mainly minisuperspace constructions and perturbations. At the same time, general physics principles from effective field theory and covariance have often been ignored. A consistent introduction of these ingredients requires substantial modifications of existing scenarios. As a consequence, none of the broader claims made mainly by the Ashtekar school --- such as the genericness of bounces with astonishingly semiclassical dynamics, robustness with respect to quantization ambiguities, the realization of covariance, and …
There are many different proposals for a theory of quantum gravity. Even leaving aside the fundamental difference among theories such as the string theory and the non-perturbative quantum gravity, we are still left with many ambiguities (and/or parameters to be determined) with regard to the choice of variables, the choice of related groups, etc. Loop quantum gravity is also in such a state. It is interesting to search for experimental observables to distinguish these quantum schemes. This paper investigates the loop quantum gravity effect on luminosity-redshift relation. The quantum bounce be…
In a series of seminal papers, Laddha and Varadarajan have developed in depth the quantisation of Parametrised Field Theory (PFT) in the kind of discontinuous representations that are employed in Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). In one spatial dimension (circle) PFT is very similar to the closed bosonic string and the constraint algebra is isomorphic to two mutually commuting Witt algebras. Its quantisation is therefore straightforward in LQG like representations which by design lead to non anomalous, unitary, albeit discontinuous representations of the spatial diffeomorphism group. In particular, …
Marginal LTB models with corrections from loop quantum gravity have recently been studied with an emphasis on potential singularity resolution. This paper corroborates and extends the analysis in two regards: (i) the whole class of LTB models, including non-marginal ones, is considered, and (ii) an alternative procedure to derive anomaly-free models is presented which first implements anomaly-freedom in spherical symmetry and then the LTB conditions rather than the other way around. While the two methods give slightly different equations of motion, not altogether surprisingly given the ubiquit…
Since there are quantization ambiguities in constructing the Hamiltonian constraint operator in isotropic loop quantum cosmology, it is crucial to check whether the key features of loop quantum cosmology are robust against the ambiguities. In this paper, we quantize the Lorentz term of the gravitational Hamiltonian constraint in the spatially flat FRW model by two approaches different from that of the Euclidean term. One of the approaches is very similar to the treatment of the Lorentz part of Hamiltonian in loop quantum gravity and hence inherits more features from the full theory. Two symmet…
One approach to defining dynamics for quantum gravity in a naturally timeless setting is to select a suitable matter degree of freedom as a 'clock' before quantisation. This idea of deparametrisation was recently introduced in group field theory leading to a Hamiltonian formulation in which states or operators evolve with respect to the clock given by a free massless scalar field, similar to what happens in deparametrised models in quantum cosmology. Here we extend the construction of Hamiltonian group field theory to models with multiple scalar matter fields, encountering new features and tec…
Quantum effects play an essential role in modern cosmology. Perhaps the most striking example comes from large-scale structures, generally assumed to originate from vacuum quantum fluctuations and stretched by an expansion phase. Inflation is the leading paradigm in explaining this process. The various observational successes of inflationary models drive the scientific community into elaborating more and more stringent tests, which can simultaneously be used to probe beyond the simple slow-roll, single field inflation. However, inflation is not a theory, and going beyond inflation is a necessi…
The physical interpretation and eventual fate of gravitational singularities in a theory surpassing classical general relativity are puzzling questions that have generated a great deal of interest among various quantum gravity approaches. In the context of loop quantum gravity (LQG), one of the major candidates for a non-perturbative background-independent quantisation of general relativity, considerable effort has been devoted to construct effective models in which these questions can be studied. In these models, classical singularities are replaced by a "bounce" induced by quantum geometry c…
The appearance of Hamiltonian constraint in the canonical formalism for general relativity reflects the lack of a fixed external time. The dynamics of general relativistic systems can be expressed with respect to an arbitrarily chosen internal degree of freedom, the so called internal clock. We investigate the way in which the choice of internal clock determines the quantum dynamics and how much different quantum dynamics induced by different clocks are. We develop our method of comparison by extending the Hamilton-Jacobi theory of contact transformations to include a new type of transformatio…
We study the quantum cosmology of a flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker universe filled with a (free) massless scalar field and a perfect fluid that represents radiation or a cosmological constant whose value is not fixed by the action, as in unimodular gravity. We study two versions of the quantum theory: the first is based on a time coordinate conjugate to the radiation/dark energy matter component, i.e., conformal time (for radiation) or unimodular time. As shown by Gryb and Thébault, this quantum theory achieves a type of singularity resolution; we illustrate this and other properties…
