Loop quantum cosmology is a symmetry reduced quantization of cosmological spacetimes based on loop quantum gravity. While it has been successful in resolution of various cosmological singularities and connecting Planck scale physics to phenomenology, its connection with loop quantum gravity has remained elusive. It is therefore important to integrate more and more features of the full theory into this framework and understand the reliability of physical predictions. In particular, if one wishes to connect the effective Hamiltonian in loop quantum cosmology to an expectation value of the scalar constraint operator in suitable coherent states for the full theory, one has to go beyond the standard setting of loop quantum cosmology. One possibility is to introduce gauge-covariant fluxes, which become necessary because the presence of a finite regularization parameter causes functions build out of the standard discretized variables to be in general not gauge invariant. Following the construction of gauge-covariant fluxes pioneered by Thiemann in [1], we show that the physics of loop quantum cosmology is affected in a non-trivial way. The bounce turns out to be generically asymmetric with a rescaling of the Newton's constant in the pre-bounce branch. Gauge-covariant fluxes result in a higher order quantum difference equation in comparison to loop quantum cosmology. Even the behavior of matter, which behaves innocuously in loop quantum cosmology, is enriched, resulting in an effective non-minimal coupling. These effects are shown to be common to different choices of regularization parameters.
Compactification of type IIB theory on torus, in the presence of fluxes, is considered. The reduced effective action is expressed in manifestly S-duality invariant form. Cosmological solutions of the model are discussed in several cases in the Pre-Big Bang scenario.
The (heterotic) double field theories and the exceptional field theories are recently developed for manifestly duality covariant formulation of various supergravity theories, describing low-energy limit of various (heterotic) superstring and M-theory compactifications. These field theories are known to be reduced to the standard descriptions by introducing appropriately parameterized generalized metric and by applying suitably chosen section conditions. We generalize this development to non-geometric backgrounds by utilizing dual fields pertinent to non-geometric fluxes. We introduce different…
We examine Bousso's covariant entropy bound conjecture in the context of radiation filled, spatially flat, Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models. The bound is violated near the big bang. However, the hope has been that quantum gravity effects would intervene and protect it. Loop quantum cosmology provides a near ideal setting for investigating this issue. For, on the one hand, quantum geometry effects resolve the singularity and, on the other hand, the wave function is sharply peaked at a quantum corrected but smooth geometry which can supply the structure needed to test the bound. We find that th…
Loop quantum cosmology (LQC) seems to be predicting modified effective Friedmann equations without extra degrees of freedom. A puzzle arises if one decides to seek for a covariant effective action which would lead to the given Friedmann equation: The Einstein--Hilbert action is the only action that leads to second order field equations and, hence, there exists no covariant action which, under metric variation, leads to modified Friedmann equation without extra degrees of freedom. It is shown that, at least for isotropic models in LQC, this issue is naturally resolved and a covariant effective …
The Wheeler-De Witt equation of type IIB quantum string cosmology compactified with constant internal H-fluxes on a 6-torus, whose volume modulus is frozen, is solved under the WKB approximation. The spontaneous symmetry breaking of the S-duality group by H-fluxes is also examined.
The discrepancy between the results of covariant and non-covariant one-loop calculations for higher-spin fields in quantum cosmology is analyzed. A detailed mode-by-mode study of perturbative quantum gravity about a flat Euclidean background bounded by two concentric 3-spheres, including non-physical degrees of freedom and ghost modes, leads to one-loop amplitudes in agreement with the covariant Schwinger-DeWitt method. This calculation provides the generalization of a previous analysis of fermionic fields and electromagnetic fields at one-loop about flat Euclidean backgrounds admitting a well…
Motivated by the success of the recently proposed method of anomaly cancellation to derive Hawking fluxes from black hole horizons of spacetimes in various dimensions, we have further extended the covariant anomaly cancellation method shortly simplified by Banerjee and Kulkarni to explore the Hawking radiation of the (3+1)-dimensional charged rotating black strings and their higher dimensional extensions in anti-de Sitter spacetimes, whose horizons are not spherical but can be toroidal, cylindrical or planar, according to their global identifications. It should be emphasized that our analysis …
We study the cosmology of a covariant scalar field respecting a Galilean symmetry in flat space-time. We show the existence of a tracker solution that finally approaches a de Sitter fixed point responsible for cosmic acceleration today. The viable region of model parameters is clarified by deriving conditions under which ghosts and Laplacian instabilities of scalar and tensor perturbations are absent. The field equation of state exhibits a peculiar phantom-like behavior along the tracker, which allows a possibility to observationally distinguish the Galileon gravity from the Lambda-CDM model.
The path-integral approach to cosmology consists in the computation of transition amplitudes between states of the quantum geometry of the universe. In the past, the concrete computation of these transitions amplitudes has been performed in a perturbative regime, breaking the full general covariance of the theory. Here I present how it is possible to define a general covariant path integral in quantum cosmology, by relying on the most recent results of the canonical and covariant formulations of Loop Quantum Gravity. I present two strategies that have been implemented. The first starts from th…
Recently, all duality invariant $α'$-corrections to the massless NS-NS sector of string theory on time-dependent backgrounds were classified and the form of their contribution to the action were calculated. In this paper we introduce matter sources in the resulting equations of motion in an O$(d,d)$ covariant way. We show that either starting with the corrected equations and sourcing them with matter or considering corrections to the matter sourced lowest order equations give the same set of equations that defines string cosmology to all orders in $α'$. We also discuss perturbative and non-per…
We consider the diffeomorphism invariant gravity coupled with the ideal fluid in the non-standard way. The Lorentz-invariance of the graviton propagator in such a theory considered as perturbation over flat background turns out to be broken due to non-standard coupling with the ideal fluid. As a result the behavior of the propagator in the ultraviolet/infrared region indicates that some versions of such theory are (super-)renormalizable ones (with appearance of only physical transverse modes). The FRW cosmology in same cases may be different from the one in General Relativity with the possible…
A simple argument indicates that covariant loop gravity (spinfoam theory) predicts a maximal acceleration, and hence forbids the development of curvature singularities. This supports the results obtained for cosmology and black holes using canonical methods.
The first-order loop quantum gravity correction of the simplest, classical general-relativistic Friedmann Hamiltonian constraint, emerging from a holomorphic spinfoam cosmological model peaked on homogeneous, isotropic geometries, is studied. The quantum Hamiltonian constraint, satisfied by the EPRL transition amplitude between the boundary cosmological coherent states, includes a contribution of the order of the Planck constant $\hbar$ that also appears in the corresponding semiclassical symplectic model. The analysis of this term gives a quantum-gravitational correction to the classical Frie…
In discussions of Bousso's Covariant Entropy Bound, the Null Energy Condition is always assumed, as a sufficient {\em but not necessary} condition which helps to ensure that the entropy on any lightsheet shall necessarily be finite. The spectacular failure of the Strong Energy Condition in cosmology has, however, led many astrophysicists and cosmologists to consider models of dark energy which violate {\em all} of the energy conditions, and indeed the current data do not completely rule out such models. The NEC also has a questionable status in brane cosmology: it is probably necessary to viol…
In loop quantum cosmology, non-perturbative quantum gravity effects lead to the resolution of the big bang singularity by a quantum bounce without introducing any new degrees of freedom. Though fundamentally discrete, the theory admits a continuum description in terms of an effective Hamiltonian. Here we provide an algorithm to obtain the corresponding effective action, establishing in this way the covariance of the theory for the first time. This result provides new insights on the continuum properties of the discrete structure of quantum geometry and opens new avenues to extract physical pre…
The 1+3 covariant approach and the covariant gauge-invariant approach to perturbations are used to analyze in depth conformal transformations in cosmology. Such techniques allow us to obtain very interesting insights on the physical content of these transformations, when applied to non-standard gravity. The results obtained lead to a number of general conclusions on the change of some key quantities describing any two conformally related cosmological models. In particular, it is shown that the physics in the Einstein frame has characteristics which are completely different from those in the Jo…
We analytically derive the covariant form of the Riemann (curvature) tensor for homogeneous Metric-Affine Cosmologies. That is, we present, in a Cosmological setting, the most general covariant form of the full Riemann tensor including also its non-Riemannian pieces which are associated to spacetime torsion and non-metricity. Having done so we also compute a list of the curvature tensor by-products such as Ricci tensor, homothetic curvature, Ricci scalar, Einstein tensor etc. Finally we derive the generalized Metric-Affine version of the usual Gauss-Bonnet density in this background and demons…
We start with a particular cosmological model derived from type IIB supergravity theory with fluxes, where usually the dilaton is interpreted as a Quintessence field. Instead of that, in this letter we interpret the dilaton as the dark matter of the universe. With this alternative interpretation we find that in this supergravity model gives a similar evolution and structure formation of the universe compared with the $Λ$CDM model in the linear regime of fluctuations of the structure formation. Some free parameters of the theory are fixed using the present cosmological observations. In the non-…
A consistent approach to Cosmology requires an explicit averaging of the Einstein equations, to describe a homogeneous and isotropic geometry. Such an averaging will in general modify the Einstein equations. The averaging procedure due to Buchert has attracted considerable attention recently since it offers the tantalizing hope of explaining the phenomenon of dark energy through such corrections. This approach has been criticized, however, on the grounds that its effects may be gauge artifacts. We apply the fully covariant formalism of Zalaletdinov's Macroscopic Gravity and show that, after ma…
Symmetric teleparallel gravity theories, in which the gravitational interaction is attributed to the nonmetricity of a flat, symmetric, but not metric-compatible affine connection, have been a topic of growing interest in recent studies. Numerous works study the cosmology of symmetric teleparallel gravity assuming a flat Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric, while working in the so-called "coincident gauge", further assuming that the connection coefficients vanish. However, little attention has been paid to the fact that both of these assumptions rely on the freedom to choose a particula…
We consider an extended theory of Horava-Lifshitz gravity with the detailed balance condition softly breaking, but without the projectability condition. With the former, the number of independent coupling constants is significantly reduced. With the latter and by extending the original foliation-preserving diffeomorphism symmetry $ {Diff}(M, {\cal{F}})$ to include a local U(1) symmetry, the spin-0 gravitons are eliminated. Thus, all the problems related to them disappear, including the instability, strong coupling, and different speeds in the gravitational sector. When the theory couples to a …
The ``generic'' family of classical sequential growth dynamics for causal sets provides cosmological models of causal sets which are a testing ground for ideas about the, as yet unknown, quantum theory. In particular we can investigate how general covariance manifests itself and address the problem of identifying and interpreting covariant ``observables'' in quantum gravity. The problem becomes, in this setting, that of identifying measurable covariant collections of causal sets, to each of which corresponds the question: ``Does the causal set that occurs belong to this collection?'' It has fo…
Classical sequential growth models for causal sets provide an important step towards the formulation of a quantum causal set dynamics. The covariant observables in a class of these models known as generalised percolation have been completely characterised in terms of physically well-defined ``stem sets'' and yield an insight into the nature of observables in quantum causal set cosmology. We discuss a recent extension of generalised percolation and show that the characterisation of covariant observables in terms of stem sets is also complete in this extension.
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 …
Cosmological solutions for covariant canonical gauge theories of gravity are presented. The underlying covariant canonical transformation framework invokes a dynamical space-time Hamiltonian consisting of the Einstein-Hilbert term plus a quadratic Riemann tensor invariant with a fundamental dimensionless coupling constant $g_1$. A typical time scale related to this constant, $τ= \sqrt{8 πG g_1}$, is characteristic for the type of cosmological solutions: for $t \ll τ$ the quadratic term is dominant, the energy-momentum tensor of the matter is not covariantly conserved, and we observe modified d…
The well-known discrepancies between covariant and non-covariant formalisms in quantum field theory and quantum cosmology are analyzed by focusing on the Coulomb gauge for vacuum Maxwell theory. On studying a flat Euclidean background with boundaries, the corresponding mode-by-mode analysis of one-loop quantum amplitudes agrees with the results of the Schwinger-DeWitt technique and of mode-by-mode calculations in relativistic gauges.
Based on the observation that the exterior space-times of Schwarzschild-type solutions allow two symmetric slicings, a static spherically symmetric one and a timelike homogeneous one, modifications of gravitational dynamics suggested by symmetry-reduced models of quantum cosmology can be used to derive corresponding modified spherically symmetric equations. Generally covariant theories are much more restricted in spherical symmetry compared with homogeneous slicings, given by $1+1$-dimensional dilaton models if they are local. As shown here, modifications used in loop quantum cosmology do not …
We propose a new $\barμ$-scheme Hamiltonian effective dynamics in the spherical symmetric sector of Loop Quantum Gravity (LQG). The effective dynamics is generally covariant as derived from a covariant Lagrangian. The Lagrangian belongs to the class of extended mimetic gravity Lagrangians in 4 dimensions. We apply the effective dynamics to both cosmology and black hole. The effective dynamics reproduces the non-singular Loop-Quantum-Cosmology (LQC) effective dynamics. From the effective dynamics, we obtain the non-singular black hole solution, which has a killing symmetry in addition to the sp…
The Big Bang initial singularity problem can be solved by means of bouncing solutions. In the context of extended theories of gravity, we will look for covariant effective actions whose field equations contain up to fourth-order derivatives of the metric tensor. In finding such bouncing solutions, we will make use of an order reduction technique based on a perturbative approach. Reducing the order of the field equations to second-order, we are able to find solutions which are perturbatively close to General Relativity. We will build the covariant effective actions of the resulting order reduce…
The t<0 branch of pre-big bang cosmological scenarios is subject to a gravitational wave instability. The unstable behaviour of tensor perturbations is derived in a very simple way in Hwang's covariant and gauge-invariant formalism developed for extended theories of gravity. A simple interpretation of this instability as the effect of an "antifriction" is given, and it is argued that a universe must eventually enter the expanding phase.
The method of non-Riemannian volume-forms (metric-independent covariant integration measure densities on the spacetime manifold) is applied to construct a unified model of dynamical dark energy plus dark matter as a dust fluid resulting from a hidden Noether symmetry of the pertinent scalar field Lagrangian. Canonical Hamiltonian treatment and Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of the latter model are briefly discussed.
We explore the relationship between the effective dynamics in standard loop quantum cosmology (LQC) based on holonomies and triads obtained from gauge-fixing fluxes, and a modification of LQC based on holonomies and gauge-covariant fluxes (referred to as gLQC). Both the models yield singularity resolution via a bounce because of non-perturbative quantum geometric effects resulting in a maximum for energy density. In LQC, the bounce is extremely well captured by a $ρ^2$ term in energy density with a negative sign which emerges as a non-perturbative modification to the classical Friedmann and Ra…
We analyze the validity of the generalized covariant entropy bound near the apparent horizon of isotropic expanding cosmological models. We encounter violations of the bound for cosmic times smaller than a threshold. By introducing an infrared cutoff we are able to mantain the bound for a radiation dominated universe. We study different physical mechanisms to restore the bound, as a non-additivity of the entropy at a fundamental level and/or a cosmological uncertainty relation.
Horava and Melby-Thompson recently proposed a new version of the Horava-Lifshitz theory of gravity, in which the spin-0 graviton is eliminated by introducing a Newtonian pre-potential $ϕ$ and a local U(1) gauge field $A$. In this paper, we first derive the corresponding Hamiltonian, super-momentum constraints, the dynamical equations, and the equations for $ϕ$ and $A$, in the presence of matter fields. Then, we apply the theory to cosmology, and obtain the modified Friedmann equation and the conservation law of energy, in addition to the equations for $ϕ$ and $A$. When the spatial curvature is…
The standard cosmological model, based on general relativity with an inflationary era, is very effective in accounting for a broad range of observed features of the universe. However, the ongoing puzzles about the nature of dark matter and dark energy, together with the problem of a fundamental theoretical framework for inflation, indicate that cosmology may be probing the limits of validity of general relativity. The early universe provides a testing ground for theories of gravity, since gravitational dynamics can lead to characteristic imprints on the CMB and other cosmological observations.…
We introduce a generalization of the 4-dimensional averaging window function of Gasperini, Marozzi and Veneziano (2010) that may prove useful for a number of applications. The covariant nature of spatial scalar averaging schemes to address the averaging problem in relativistic cosmology is an important property that is implied by construction, but usually remains implicit. We employ here the approach of Gasperini et al. for two reasons. First, the formalism and its generalization presented here are manifestly covariant. Second, the formalism is convenient for disentangling the dependencies on …
We study the cosmology of a covariant Galileon field with five covariant Lagrangians and confront this theory with the most recent cosmological probes: the type Ia supernovae data (Constitution and Union2 sets), cosmic microwave background (WMAP7) and the baryon acoustic oscillations (SDSS7). In the Galileon cosmology with a late-time de Sitter attractor, there is a tracker that attracts solutions with different initial conditions to a common trajectory. Including the cosmic curvature K, we place observational constraints on two distinct cases: (i) the tracker, and (ii) the generic solutions t…
We give a prescription to define in Loop Quantum Gravity the electric field operator related to the scale factor of an homogeneous and isotropic cosmological space-time. This procedure allows to link the fundamental theory with its cosmological implementation. In view of the conjugate relation existing between holonomies and fluxes, the edge length and the area of surfaces in the fiducial metric satisfy a duality condition. As a consequence, the area operator has a discrete spectrum also in Loop Quantum Cosmology. This feature makes the super-Hamiltonian regularization an open issue of the who…
Within the causal set approach to quantum gravity, a discrete analog of a spacelike region is a set of unrelated elements, or an antichain. In the continuum approximation of the theory, a moment-of-time hypersurface is well represented by an inextendible antichain. We construct a richer structure corresponding to a thickening of this antichain containing non-trivial geometric and topological information. We find that covariant observables can be associated with such thickened antichains and transitions between them, in classical stochastic growth models of causal sets. This construction highli…
Recent and upcoming experimental data as well as the possibility of rich phenomenology have spiked interest in studying the quantum effects in cosmology at low (inflation-era) energy scales. One of the approaches to find covariant quantum corrections is the DeWitt-Vilkovisky's (DV) covariant effective action formalism that is gauge invariant and background field invariant. We use the DeWitt-Vilkovisky method to study formal and cosmological aspects of quantum fields in curved spacetime, and take initial steps towards studying quantum gravitational corrections in cosmological setting. The thesi…
We study covariant equations in quantum cosmology of an extended minisuperspace obtained by the Eisenhart--Duval lift. We find that a Dirac-type equation is naturally introduced in the extended minisuperspace. Explicit forms of the fundamental solutions are yielded for specific models. The possible further development in this direction is also discussed.
We discuss the dynamics of linear, scalar perturbations in an almost Friedmann-Robertson-Walker braneworld cosmology of Randall-Sundrum type II using the 1+3 covariant approach. We derive a complete set of frame-independent equations for the total matter variables, and a partial set of equations for the non-local variables which arise from the projection of the Weyl tensor in the bulk. The latter equations are incomplete since there is no propagation equation for the non-local anisotropic stress. We supplement the equations for the total matter variables with equations for the independent cons…
Causal structure, inertial path structure and compatibility with quantum mechanics demand no full Lorentz metric, but only an integrable Weyl geometry for space time (Ehlers/Pirani/Schild 1972, Audretsch e.a. 1984). A proposal of (Tann 1998,,Drechsler/Tann 1999) for a minimal coupling of the Hilbert-Einstein action to a scale covariant scalar vacuum field $ϕ$ (weight -1) plus (among others) a Klein-Gordon action term opens the access to a scale covariant formulation of gravity. The ensuing scale covariant K-G equation specifies a natural scale gauge vacuum gauge). Adding other natural assumpti…
We study the cosmology of a generalized Galileon field $ϕ$ with five covariant Lagrangians in which $ϕ$ is replaced by general scalar functions $f_{i}(ϕ)$ (i=1,...,5). For these theories, the equations of motion remain at second-order in time derivatives. We restrict the functional forms of $f_{i}(ϕ)$ from the demand to obtain de Sitter solutions responsible for dark energy. There are two possible choices for power-law functions $f_{i}(ϕ)$, depending on whether the coupling $F(ϕ)$ with the Ricci scalar $R$ is independent of $ϕ$ or depends on $ϕ$. The former corresponds to the covariant Galileo…
Constraints on the Covariant Canonical Gauge Gravity (CCGG) theory from low-redshift cosmology are studied. The formulation extends Einstein's theory of General Relativity (GR) by a quadratic Riemann-Cartan term in the Lagrangian, controlled by a "deformation" parameter. In the Friedman universe this leads to an additional geometrical stress energy and promotes, due to the necessary presence of torsion, the cosmological constant to a time-dependent function. The MCMC analysis of the combined data sets of Type Ia Supernovae, Cosmic Chronometers and Baryon Acoustic Oscillations yields a fit that…
The treatment of 1 + 3 covariant perturbation in a multifluid cosmology with the consideration of f (G) gravity, G being the Gauss-Bonnet term, is done in the present paper. We define a set of covariant and gauge-invariant variables to describe density, velocity and entropy perturbations for both the total matter and component fluids. We then use different techniques such as scalar decomposition, harmonic decomposition, quasi-static approximation together with the redshift transformation to get simplified perturbation equations for analysis. We then discuss number of interesting applications l…
Two-dimensional quantum fields in electric and gravitational backgrounds can be described by conformal field theories, and hence all the physical (covariant) quantities can be written in terms of the corresponding holomorphic quantities. In this paper, we first derive relations between covariant and holomorphic forms of higher-spin currents in these backgrounds, and then, by using these relations, obtain higher-spin generalizations of the trace and gauge (or gravitational) anomalies up to spin 4. These results are applied to derive higher-moments of Hawking fluxes in black holes in a separate …
In this paper we contrasted two cosmological perturbation theory formalisms, the 1+3 covariant gauge invariant and the gauge invariant by comparing their gauge invariant variables associated with magnetic field defined in each approach. In the first part we give an introduction to each formalism assuming the presence of a magnetic field. We found that gauge invariant quantities defined by 1+3 covariant approach are related with spatial variations of the magnetic field (defined in the gauge invariant formalism) between two closed fundamental observers. This relation was computed by choosing the…
A bouncing universe is a viable candidate to solve the initial singularity problem. Here we consider bouncing solutions in the context of $f(R,\mathcal{G})$ gravity by using an order reduction technique which allows one to find solutions that are perturbatively close to General Relativity. This procedure also acts as a model selection approach. Indeed, several covariant gravitational actions leading to a bounce are directly selected by demanding that the Friedmann equation derived within such gravity theories coincides with the one emerging from Loop Quantum Cosmology.
We derive the renormalized nonequilibrium equations of motion for a scalar field and its quantum back reaction in a conformally flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe. We use a fully covariant formalism proposed by us recently for handling numerically and analytically nonequilibrium dynamics in one-loop approximation. The system is assumed to be in a conformal vacuum state initially. We use dimensional regularization; we find that the counter terms can be chosen independent of the initial conditions though the divergent leading order graphs do depend on them.
We study FLRW cosmology, taking into account quantum gravitational corrections in the formalism of the exact renormalization group flow of the effective action for gravity. We calculate the quantum corrected scale factor, energy density, and entropy production at late times, taking different cut-off functions. Our approach differs from previous ones in the way energy-momentum conservation is imposed -- we include the running Newton constant $G(k)$ in the definition of energy-momentum tensor, keeping in mind the covariant conservation identity of the Einstein tensor. The quantum corrections obt…
We revisit the gauge issue in cosmological perturbation theory, and highlight its relation to the notion of covariance in general relativity. We also discuss the similarities and differences of the covariant approach in perturbation theory to the Bardeen or metric approach in a non-technical fashion.
We show that the space of generalized fluxes - momentum space - for loop quantum gravity cannot be constructed by Fourier transforming the projective limit construction of the space of generalized connections - position space - due to the non-abelianess of the gauge group SU(2). From the abelianization of SU(2), U(1)^3, we learn that the space of generalized fluxes turns out to be an inductive limit, and we determine the consistency conditions the fluxes should satisfy under coarse-graining of the underlying graphs. We comment on the applications to loop quantum cosmology, in particular, how t…
We write an O(d,d)-covariant Wheeler-De Witt equation in the ($d^2+1$)-dimensional minisuperspace of low-energy cosmological string backgrounds. We discuss explicit examples of transitions between two duality-related cosmological phases, and we find a finite quantum transition probability even when the two phases are classically separated by a curvature singularity. This quantum approach is completely free from operator ordering ambiguities as a consequence of the duality symmetries of the string effective action.
One of the outstanding problems in general relativistic cosmology is that of the averaging. That is, how the lumpy universe that we observe at small scales averages out to a smooth Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) model. The root of the problem is that averaging does not commute with the Einstein equations that govern the dynamics of the model. This leads to the well-know question of backreaction in cosmology. In this work, we approach the problem using the covariant framework of Macroscopic Gravity (MG). We use its cosmological solution with a flat FLRW macroscopic background where …
We study some consequences of the loop quantization of the outermost dust shell in the Lemaître-Tolman-Bondi spacetime with a homogeneous dust density using different quantization strategies motivated by loop quantum gravity. Prior work has dealt with loop quantizing this model by employing holonomies and the triads, following the procedure in standard loop quantum cosmology. In this work we compare this quantization with the one in which holonomies and gauge-covariant fluxes are used. While both of the quantization schemes resolve the central singularity, they lead to different mass gaps at w…
The covariant entropy bound conjecture is an important hint for the quantum gravity, with several versions available in the literature. For cosmology, Ashtekar and Wilson-Ewing ever show the consistence between the loop gravity theory and one version of this conjecture. Recently, S. He and H. Zhang proposed a version for the dynamical horizon of the universe, which validates the entropy bound conjecture for the cosmology filled with perfect fluid in the classical scenario when the universe is far away from the big bang singularity. However, their conjecture breaks down near big bang region. We…
