We provide a quantum picture for the emergence of a bouncing cosmology, according to the idea that a semiclassical behavior of the Universe towards the singularity is not available in many relevant Minisuperspace models. In particular, we study the Bianchi I model in vacuum adopting the isotropic Misner variable as an internal clock for the quantum evolution. The isomorphism between the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in this Minisuperspace representation and the Klein-Gordon one for a relativistic scalar field allows to identify the positive and negative frequency solutions as associated to the collapsing and expanding Universe respectively. We clarify how any Bianchi I localized wave packet unavoidably spreads when the singularity is approached and therefore the semiclassical description of the model evolution in the Planckian region loses its predictability. Then, we calculate the transition amplitude that a collapsing Universe is turned into an expanding one, according to the standard techniques of relativistic quantum mechanics, thanks to the introduction of an ekpyrotic-like matter component which mimics a time-dependent potential term and breaks the frequency separation. In particular, the transition probability of this "Quantum Big Bounce" acquires a maximum value when the mean values of the momenta conjugate to the anisotropies in the collapsing Universe are close enough to the corresponding mean values in the expanding one, depending on the variances of the in-going and out-going Universe wave packets. This symmetry between the pre-Bounce and post-Bounce mean values reflects what happens in the semiclassical bouncing cosmology, with the difference that here the connection of the two branches takes place on a pure probabilistic level.
We present the Hamiltonian formulation of a relativistic point-particle coupled to Einstein gravity and its canonical quantization à la Wheeler-DeWitt. In the resulting quantum theory, the wave functional is a function of the particle coordinates and the 3-metric. It satisfies a particular Hamiltonian and diffeomorphism constraint, together with a Klein-Gordon-type equation. As usual in the Wheeler-DeWitt theory, the wave function is time-independent. This is also reflected in the Klein-Gordon-type equation, where the time derivative is absent. Before considering gravity, we consider the coupl…
In this paper we present the quantum LRS Bianchi IX models or, as they may be better known, the Taub-NUT models in addition to the quantum LRS Bianchi VIII models, both coupled to a stiff matter source. We solve their Wheeler DeWitt equations for an arbitrary Hartle-Hawking ordering parameter using separation of variables. Afterwards we construct a superposition of their respective wave functions and discuss some of the interesting qualitative properties they possess.
The main result of this paper is the 4-dimensional supermetric version of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation, that uses only one time variable for the both roles - as internal time and for the ADM split, as Hamiltonian evolution parameter. We study the ADM split with respect to the scalar massless field serving as internal time. The 4-dimensional hyper-surfaces $Σ_{ϕ= const}$ span the 5-dimensional space with the scalar field being the fifth coordinate. As a result we obtain the analog of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the 4-dimensional supermetric. We compare the ADM action with the non-compactifie…
In this article, I present a volume average regularization for the second functional derivative operator that appears in the metric-basis Wheeler-DeWitt equation. Naively, the second functional derivative operator in the Wheeler-DeWitt equation is infinite, since it contains terms with a factor of a delta function or derivatives of the delta function. More precisely, the second functional derivative contains terms that are only well defined as a distribution---these terms only yield meaningful results when they appear within an integral. The second functional derivative may, therefore, be regu…
In this letter, we discuss the Wheeler-DeWitt equation with an ordering parameter in the Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe. The solutions when the universe was very small and at the end of the expansion are obtained in terms of Bessel and Heun functions, respectively. We also obtain a boundary condition which should be satisfied by the ordering parameter, namely, $0 \leq p \leq 2$. We investigate the minimum value of the scale factor with respect to the maximum value of the probability density.
Exact solutions of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of the full theory of four dimensional gravity of Lorentzian signature are obtained. They are characterized by Schrödinger wavefunctionals having support on 3-metrics of constant spatial scalar curvature, and thus contain two full physical field degrees of freedom in accordance with the Yamabe construction. These solutions are moreover Gaussians of minimum uncertainty and they are naturally associated with a rigged Hilbert space. In addition, in the limit the regulator is removed, exact 3-dimensional diffeomorphism and local gauge invariance of th…
Recently, Wang with Stankiewicz (Phys. Lett. B 800 (2020) 135106) opposed the widespread belief that due to quantization, the Big Bang singularity {\em must} necessarily get smeared and replaced by a non-singular "Big Bounce" process. Their claim is supported in a methodically independent manner in which just a highly schematic model (viz., the discrete and drastically simplified Wheeler-DeWitt equation) is considered. Our comparatively elementary argumentation is constructive, based on the assumption that the evolution of the Universe can fully consistently be described using an innovative, h…
The Quantum Wheeler-DeWitt operator can be derived from an affine commutation relation via the affine group representation formalism for gravity, wherein a family of gauge-diffeomorphism invariant affine coherent states are constructed from a fiducial state. In this article, the role of the fiducial state is played by a regularized Gaussian peaked on densitized triad configurations corresponding to 3-metrics of constant spatial scalar curvature. The affine group manifold consists of points in the upper half plane, wherein each point is labeled by two local gravitational degrees of freedom from…
We reexamine the relationship between the path integral and canonical formulation of quantum general relativity. In particular, we present a formal derivation of the Wheeler-DeWitt equation from the path integral for quantum general relativity by way of boundary variations. One feature of this approach is that it does not require an explicit 3+1 splitting of spacetime in the bulk. For spacetimes with a spatial boundary, we show that the dependence of the transition amplitudes on spatial boundary conditions is determined by a Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the spatial boundary surface. We find tha…
Bohmian Quantum Cosmology from the Wheeler-DeWitt Equation
Academy of Athens（雅典科学院）；National Observatory of Athens（希腊国家天文台）；National Technical University of Athens（雅典国立技术大学）；CAS Key Laboratory for Researches in Galaxies and Cosmology, School of Astronomy and Space Science, University of Science and Technology of China（中国科学院星系与宇宙学重点实验室，中国科学技术大学天文与空间科学学院）；Universidad Católica del Norte（北天主教学会大学）；National & Kapodistrian University of Athens（雅典国立卡波蒂斯坦大学）
The equation for canonical gravity produced by Wheeler and DeWitt in the late 1960s still presents difficulties both in terms of its mathematical solution and its physical interpretation. One of these issues is, notoriously, the absence of an explicit time. In this short note, we suggest one simple and straightforward way to avoid this occurrence. We go back to the classical equation that inspired Wheeler and DeWitt (namely, the Hamilton--Jacobi--Einstein equation) and make explicit, before quantization, the presence of a known, classically meaningful notion of time. We do this by allowing Ham…
An intrinsic time in Geometrodynamics is obtained with using a scaled Dirac's mapping. By addition of a background metric, one can construct a scalar field. It is suitable to play a role of intrinsic time. Cauchy problem was successfully solved in conformal variables because they are physical ones. First, the intrinsic time as a logarithm of determinant of spatial metric, was applied to a cosmological problem by Misner. A global time is exist under condition of constant mean curvature slicing of spacetime. The volume of hypersurface and so-called mean York's time are canonical conjugated pair.…
A modified semi-classical method is used to construct both ground and excited state solutions to the canonically quantized vacuum Bianchi IX (Mixmaster) cosmological models. Employing a modified form of the semi-classical Ansatz we solve the relevant Wheeler-DeWitt equation asymptotically by integrating a set of linear transport equations along the flow of a suitably chosen solution to the corresponding Euclidean-signature Hamilton-Jacobi equation. For the Moncrief-Ryan (or `wormhole') Hamilton-Jacobi solution, we compute the ground state quantum correction term associated with operator orderi…
The Wheeler -- DeWitt equation was proposed 50 years ago and until now it is the cornerstone of most approaches to quantization of gravity. One can find in the literature the opinion that the Wheeler -- DeWitt equation is even more fundamental than the basic equation of quantum theory, the Schrödinger equation. We still should remember that we are in the situation when no observational data can confirm or reject the fundamental status of the Wheeler -- DeWitt equation, so we can give just indirect arguments in favor of or against it, grounded on mathematical consistency and physical relevance.…
In this paper, the Wheeler-DeWitt (WDW) equation is derived in null-foliated 4D spacetimes. WDW equation written in null-foliated spacetime presents an enormous simplification compared to the spacelike-foliated spacetime as the null-foliations are 2D. These can be solved exactly and uniquely to give the vertex operators of non-critical strings as a solution. A correspondence is established between null surfaces in 4D to string worldsheet geometry. Attempts are made to derive the physical consequences of this correspondence.
We extend the Born-Oppenheimer type of approximation scheme for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of canonical quantum gravity to arbitrary orders in the inverse Planck mass squared. We discuss in detail the origin of unitarity violation in this scheme and show that unitarity can be restored by an appropriate modification which requires back reaction from matter onto the gravitational sector. In our analysis, we heavily rely on the gauge aspects of the standard Born-Oppenheimer scheme in molecular physics.
In this paper, we consider the Wheeler-DeWitt equation modified by a deformation of the second quantized canonical commutation relations. Such modified commutation relations are induced by a Generalized Uncertainty Principle. Since the Wheeler-DeWitt equation can be related to a Sturm-Liouville problem where the associated eigenvalue can be interpreted as the cosmological constant, it is possible to explicitly relate such an eigenvalue to the deformation parameter of the corresponding Wheeler-DeWitt equation. The analysis is performed in a Mini-Superspace approach where the scale factor appear…
In the case of a spatially flat Friedmann--Lema\^ıtre--Robertson--Walker universe in $f\left( R\right) $-gravity we write the Wheeler-DeWitt equation of quantum cosmology. The equation depends on the functional form of $f\left( R\right) $. We select to work with four specific functions of $f\left( R\right) $, in which the field equations for the classical models are integrable and solvable through quadratures. For these models, we determine similarity solutions for the Wheeler-DeWitt equation by determine Lie-Bäcklund transformations. In addition we show how the classical limit is recovered by…
