We describe inflation in terms of a time dependent quantum density matrix with time playing the role of a stochastic variable. Using a quasi-de Sitter model we compute the corresponding quantum Fisher information function as the second derivative of the relative entanglement entropy for the density matrix at two different times. Employing standard quantum estimation theory we evaluate the minimal variance of quantum scalar fluctuations that reproduces the power spectrum and the corresponding tilt in the slow roll limit. The Jeffreys prior associated with such Fisher information can be used to define the probabilities on the set of initial conditions defined by the slow roll parameter $ε$ and the initial Shannon information.
Lectures by the author at the 1986 Cargese summer school modestly corrected and uploaded for greater accessibility. Some of the author's views on the quantum mechanics of cosmology have changed from those presented here but may still be of historical interest. The material on the Born-Oppenheimer approximation for solving the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and the work on the classical geometry limit and the approximation of quantum field theory in curved spacetime are still of interest and of use.
Loop quantum cosmology is a conflicted field in which exuberant claims of observability coexist with serious objections against the conceptual and physical viability of its current formulations. This contribution presents a non-technical case study of the recent claim that loop quantum cosmology might alleviate anomalies in observations of the cosmic microwave background.
We start by presenting a brief summary of fractional quantum mechanics, as means to convey a motivation towards fractional quantum cosmology. Subsequently, such application is made concrete with the assistance of a case study. Specifically, we investigate and then discuss a model of stiff matter in a spatially flat homogeneous and isotropic universe. A new quantum cosmological solution, where fractional calculus implications are explicit, is presented and then contrasted with the corresponding standard quantum cosmology setting.
We formulate the Lagrangian of the Newtonian cosmology where the cosmological constant is also introduced. Following the affine quantization procedure, the Hamiltonian operator is derived. The wave functions of the Newtonian universe and the corresponding eigenvalues for the case of matter dominated by a negative cosmological constant are given.
Cosmology is in an era of rapid discovery especially in areas related to dark energy, dark matter and inflation. Quantum cosmology treats the cosmology quantum mechanically and is important when quantum effects need to be accounted for, especially in the very early Universe. Quantum computing is an emerging new method of computing which excels in simulating quantum systems. Quantum computing may have some advantages when simulating quantum cosmology, especially because the Euclidean action of gravity is unbounded from below, making the implementation of Monte Carlo simulation problematic. In t…
The quantum mechanics of Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes is of great recent interest because of their peculiar thermodynamic properties as well as their realization in modern dark energy cosmology which indicates the presence of a small positive cosmological constant. We study Schwarzschild-de Sitter black holes and also the Kantowki-Sachs Cosmology using quantum computing. In these cases in addition to the Hamiltonian there is a Mass operator which plays an important role in describing the quantum states of the black hole and Kantowski-Sachs cosmology. We compute the spectrum of these ope…
In this paper, we study the dynamics of k-essence in loop quantum cosmology (LQC). The study indicates that the loop quantum gravity (LQG) effect plays a key role only in the early epoch of the universe and is diluted at the later stage. The fixed points in LQC are basically consistent with that in standard Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) cosmology. For most of the attractor solutions, the stability conditions in LQC are in agreement with that for the standard FRW universe. But for some special fixed point, more tighter constraints are imposed thanks to the LQG effect.
We investigate the quantum cosmology of a closed spatially homogeneous and isotropic Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker (FLRW) minisuperspace model with electromagnetic radiation as matter content. We solve the corresponding Wheeler-DeWitt equation by utilizing Riemann's zeta function regularization method. We demonstrate that the regularized vacuum energy of the electromagnetic field can overcome factor ordering, boundary conditions, and singularity problems.
We extend the treatment of quantum cosmology to a manifold with torsion. We adopt a model of Einstein-Cartan-Sciama-Kibble compatible with the cosmological principle. The universe wavefunction will be subject to a $\mathcal{PT}$-symmetric Hamiltonian. With a vanishing energy-momentum tensor, the universe evolution in the semiclassical and classical regimes is shown to reflect a two-stage inflationary process induced by torsion.
How Nature is Conformable to Herself: A View from Quantum Cosmology
已故的默里·盖尔曼（Murray Gell-Mann）在他的论文《自然与自己一致》（Nature Conformable to Herself）中，扩展了牛顿的一个观察，即宇宙中看似完全不同的现象的理论往往使用类似的思想和类似的数学结构。牛顿总结说，自然是非常和谐和符合自己。本文用量子宇宙学的一个模型来说明自然是如何、为什么以及何时自我整合的。
