This thesis is dedicated to analysing the generation and destruction of quantum correlations in the context of inflationary cosmology and an experiment of 'analogue' preheating. Inflation is a phase of accelerated expansion of the Universe, preceding the so-called Standard Model of Big Bang cosmology, introduced to solve some shortcomings of this model. It also provides a mechanism for the emergence of primordial inhomogeneities by amplification of initial quantum fluctuations. Inflation is followed by a 'reheating' period, in which most particles are expected to be generated and reach thermal equilibrium, setting the stage for the standard Big Bang of cosmology. During a 'preheating' period, this creation proceeds partly by parametric excitation of resonant modes of the matter fields initially in their vacuum, a genuine quantum process. The physics of both situations, inflation and preheating, is that of a strong classical field acting on a quantum field to produce entangled (quasi-)particles. When the classical source is the space-time metric itself, as in inflation, we are in the framework of Quantum Field Theory in Curved Space-time (QFTCS). The evolution of the generated quantum correlations is the topic of this PhD.
To discuss the quantum to classical transition in quantum cosmology, we study the decoherence factor and the peak of the Wigner function, which respectively represent the degree of decoherence and the degree to which the classical motion of the Universe is defined, in a Robertson-Walker universe model coupled with a scalar field. It is known that the decoherence factor is divergent in some cases. This implies that perfect decoherence occurs, and classical correlation criterion fails. In this paper we discuss the divergence of the decoherence factor in some detail and obtain the constraints for…
In Crull (2015) it is argued that, in order to confront outstanding problems in cosmology and quantum gravity, interpretational aspects of quantum theory can by bypassed because decoherence is able to resolve them. As a result, Crull (2015) concludes that our focus on conceptual and interpretational issues, while dealing with such matters in Okon and Sudarsky (2014), is avoidable and even pernicious. Here we will defend our position by showing in detail why decoherence does not help in the resolution of foundational questions in quantum mechanics, such as the measurement problem or the emergen…
In this topical review we discuss the connections between chaos, decoherence and quantum cosmology. We understand chaos as classical chaos in systems with a finite number of degrees of freedom, decoherence as environment induced decoherence and quantum cosmology as the theory of the Wheeler - DeWitt equation or else the consistent history formulation thereof, first in mini super spaces and later through its extension to midi super spaces. The overall conclusion is that consideration of decoherence is necessary (and probably sufficient) to sustain an interpretation of quantum cosmology based on…
A calculation of the one-mode occupation numbers for vacuum fluctuations of massive fields in De Sitter space shows that their use for the generation of classical density perturbations in inflationary cosmology very much depends on their masses and conformal couplings. A new mechanism for the decoherence of relatively massive fields has been identified. A similar analysis of the power law inflation shows that production of adiabatic density perturbations may not take place in models with power p < 3.
We analyze the quantum cosmology of the simplest pre--big--bang model without dilaton potential. In addition to the minisuperspace variables we include inhomogeneous dilaton fluctuations and determine their wave function on a semiclassical background. This wave function is used to calculate the reduced density matrix and to find criteria for the loss of decoherence. It is shown that coherence between different backgrounds can always be achieved by a specific choice of vacua though generically decoherence can be expected. In particular, we discuss the implications of these results on the ``exit…
We consider a simple cosmological model in order to show the importance of unstable particle creation for the validity of the semiclassical approximation. Using the mathematical structure of rigged Hilbert spaces we show that particle creation is the seed of decoherence which enables the quantum to classical transition.
Unitarity is a pillar of quantum theory. Nevertheless, it is also a source of several of its conceptual problems. We note that in a world where measurements are relational, as is the case in gravitation, quantum mechanics exhibits a fundamental level of loss of coherence. This can be the key to solving, among others, the puzzles posed by the black hole information paradox, the formation of inhomogeneities in cosmology and the measurement problem in quantum mechanics.
We analyse the relationship between classical chaos and particle creation in Robertson-Walker cosmological models with gravity coupled to a scalar field. Within our class of models chaos and particle production are seen to arise in the same cases. Particle production is viewed as the seed of decoherence, which both enables the quantum to classical transition, and ensures that the correspondence between the quantum and classically chaotic models will be valid
We develop the formalism for the one-loop no-boundary state in a cosmological model with fermions. We use it to calculate the reduced density matrix for an inflaton field by tracing out the fermionic degrees of freedom, yielding both the fermionic effective action and the standard decoherence factor. We show that dimensional regularisation of ultraviolet divergences would lead to an inconsistent density matrix. Suppression of these divergences to zero is instead performed through a nonlocal Bogoliubov transformation of the fermionic variables, which leads to a consistent density matrix. The re…
We calculate the reduced density matrix for the inflaton field in a model of chaotic inflation by tracing out degrees of freedom corresponding to various bosonic fields. We find a qualitatively new contribution to the density matrix given by the Euclidean effective action of quantum fields. We regularise the ultraviolet divergences in the decoherence factor. Dimensional regularisation is shown to violate the consistency conditions for a density matrix as a bounded operator. A physically motivated conformal redefinition of the environmental fields leads to well-defined expressions. They show th…
It is demonstrated that almost any S-matrix of quantum field theory in curved spaces posses an infinite set of complex poles (or branch cuts). These poles can be transformed into complex eigenvalues, the corresponding eigenvectors being Gamow vectors. All this formalism, which is heuristic in ordinary Hilbert space, becomes a rigorous one within the framework of a properly chosen rigged Hilbert space. Then complex eigenvalues produce damping or growing factors. It is known that the growth of entropy, decoherence, and the appearance of correlations, occur in the universe evolution, but only und…
Gell-Mann and Hartle have proposed a significant generalisation of quantum theory with a scheme whose basic ingredients are `histories' and decoherence functionals. Within this scheme it is natural to identify the space $\UP$ of propositions about histories with an orthoalgebra or lattice. This raises the important problem of classifying the decoherence functionals in the case where $\UP$ is the lattice of projectors $\PV$ in some Hilbert space $\V$; in effect we seek the history analogue of Gleason's famous theorem in standard quantum theory. In the present paper we present the solution to th…
Primordial fluctuations in inflationary cosmology acquire classical properties through decoherence when their wavelengths become larger than the Hubble scale. Although decoherence is effective, it is not complete, so a significant part of primordial correlations remains up to the present moment. We address the issue of the pointer states which provide a classical basis for the fluctuations with respect to the influence by an environment (other fields). Applying methods from the quantum theory of open systems (the Lindblad equation), we show that this basis is given by narrow Gaussians that app…
We discuss a spacetime having the topology of $S^{3}\times\mathbb{R}$ but with a different smoothness structure. The initial state of the cosmos in our model is identified with a wildly embedded 3-sphere (or a fractal space). In previous work we showed that a wild embedding is obtained by a quantization of a usual (or tame) embedding. Then a wild embedding can be identified with a (geometrical) quantum state. During a decoherence process this wild 3-sphere is changed to a homology 3-sphere. We are able to calculate the decoherence time for this process. After the formation of the homology 3-sp…
The basic ingredients of the `consistent histories' approach to quantum theory are a space $\UP$ of `history propositions' and a space $\D$ of `decoherence functionals'. In this article we consider such history quantum theories in the case where $\UP$ is given by the set of projectors $¶(\V)$ on some Hilbert space $\V$. We define the notion of a `physical symmetry of a history quantum theory' (PSHQT) and specify such objects exhaustively with the aid of an analogue of Wigner's theorem. In order to prove this theorem we investigate the structure of $\D$, define the notion of an `elementary deco…
An analysis of the decoherence of quantum fluctuations shows that production of classical adiabatic density perturbations may not take place in models of power-law inflation with power 1< p < 3. Some consequences for models of extended inflation are pointed out. In general, the condition for decoherence places new constraint on inflationary models, which does not depend on often complicated subsequent evolution.
We sketch a quantum mechanical framework for the universe as a whole. Within that framework we propose a program for describing the ultimate origin in quantum cosmology of the quasiclassical domain of familiar experience and for characterizing the process of measurement. Predictions in quantum mechanics are made from probabilities for sets of alternative histories. Probabilities can be assigned only to sets of histories that approximately decohere. Decoherence is defined and the mechanism of decoherence is reviewed. Decoherence requires a sufficiently coarse-grained description of alternative …
The expansion of hadronic matter that takes place immediately after a heavy ion collision has certain similarity with the cosmological expansion. We study the analogue geometry of the expanding hadronic fluid, using the the formalism of relativistic acoustic geometry. We show that the propagation of massless pions provides a geometric analog of expanding spacetime equivalent to an open (k=-1)FRW cosmology. Here, we study general conditions for the formation of a trapped region with the inner boundary as a marginally trapped surface.
An ordinary differential equation describing the transverse profiles of U-shaped glacial valleys, derived with a variational principle, has two formal analogies which we analyze. First, an analogy with point particle mechanics completes the description of the solutions. Second, an analogy with the Friedmann equation of relativistic cosmology shows that the analogue of a glacial valley profile is a universe with a future singularity but respecting the weak energy condition. The equation unveils also a Big Freeze singularity, which was not observed before for positive curvature index.
The possible imprint of quantum decoherence, in the framework of cosmology, is here investigated. Particular attention is paid to the observational fact that entanglement could lead to the interaction of different eras of cosmic evolution. The role played by decoherence provides the existence of "quantum entanglement" between cosmological eras giving, as observational results, dynamical constraints on the corresponding cosmological models.
Decoherence in quantum cosmology is shown to occur naturally in the presence of induced geometric gauge interactions associated with particle production.A new 'gauge '-variant form of the semiclassical Einstein equations is also presented which makes the non-gravitating character of the vacuum polarisation energy explicit.
We review a number of issues in foundations of quantum theory and quantum cosmology including, in particular, the problem of the preferred basis in the many-worlds interpretation of quantum mechanics, the relation between this interpretation and the decoherence phenomenon, application of decoherence approach to quantum cosmology, the relation between the many-worlds interpretation and Anthropic Principle along with the notion of quantum-classical duality. We also discuss the concept of fundamentally mixed quantum state of the Universe represented by a special microcanonical density matrix and …
The basic ingredients of the `consistent histories' approach to quantum theory are a space $\UP$ of `history propositions' and a space $\D$ of `decoherence functionals'. In this article we consider such history quantum theories in the case where $\UP$ is given by the set of projectors $¶(\V)$ on some Hilbert space $\V$. Using an analogue of Wigner's Theorem in the context of history quantum theories proven earlier, we develop the notion of a `symmetry of a decoherence functional' and prove that all such symmetries form a group which we call `the symmetry group of a decoherence functional'. We …
Formal analogies between the ordinary differential equations describing geophysical flows and Friedmann cosmology are developed. As a result, one obtains Lagrangian and Hamiltonian formulations of these equations, while laboratory experiments aimed at testing geophysical flows are shown to constitute analogue gravity systems for cosmology.
We study the signature change in a perfect fluid Friedmann-Robertson-Walker quantum cosmological model. In this work the Schutz's variational formalism is applied to recover the notion of time. This gives rise to a Schrodinger-Wheeler-DeWitt equation with arbitrary ordering for the scale factor. We use the eigenfunctions in order to construct wave packets and evaluate the time-dependent expectation value of the scale factor which coincides with the ontological interpretation. We show that these solutions exhibit signature transitions from a finite Euclidean to a Lorentzian domain. Moreover, su…
Decoherence of Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) geometries due to massive vector fields with $SO(3)$ global symmetry is discussed in the context of Quantum Cosmology. (Talk presented at the 3rd National Meeting of Astronomy and Astrophysics, July 1993, IST, Lisboa, Portugal. -- A more complete version will be presented at MG7 conference and in the report CERN-TH.7241/94 DAMTP R-94/22 by the same authors)
We give an explicit, rigorous framework for calculating quantum probabilities in a model theory of quantum gravity. Specifically, we construct the decoherence functional for the Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology with a free, massless, minimally coupled scalar field, thus providing a complete decoherent histories formulation for this quantum cosmological model. The decoherence functional is applied to study predictions concerning the model's Dirac (relational) observables; the behavior of semiclassical states and superpositions of such states; and to stu…
This paper gives an elementary introduction to some of the conceptual problems of quantum cosmology. Contents: 1. Why quantum cosmology? 2. Time in quantum gravity 3.Decoherence and the recovery of the Schrodinger equation 4. The direction of time
Retrieval of classical behaviour in quantum cosmology is usually discussed in the framework of minisuperspace models in the presence of scalar fields together with the inhomogeneous modes of gravitational or scalar fields. In this work we propose alternatively a model where the scalar field is replaced by a massive vector field with global U(1) or SO(3) internal symmetries.
A general `quantum history theory' can be characterised by the space of histories and by the space of decoherence functionals. In this note we consider the situation where the space of histories is given by the lattice of projection operators on an infinite dimensional Hilbert space $H$. We study operator representations for decoherence functionals on this space of histories. We first give necessary and sufficient conditions for a decoherence functional being representable by a trace class operator on $H \otimes H$, an infinite dimensional analogue of the Isham-Linden-Schreckenberg representat…
Statistical mechanical concepts and processes such as decoherence, correlation, and dissipation can prove to be of basic importance to understanding some fundamental issues of quantum cosmology and theoretical physics such as the choice of initial states, quantum to classical transition and the emergence of time. Here we summarize our effort in 1) constructing a unified theoretical framework using techniques in interacting quantum field theory such as influence functional and coarse-grained effective action to discuss the interplay of noise, fluctuation, dissipation and decoherence; and 2) ill…
Loop quantum cosmology allows for arbitrary superpositions of the triad variable. We show here how these superpositions can become indistinguishable from a classical mixture by the interaction with fermions. We calculate the reduced density matrix for a locally rotationally symmetric Bianchi I model and show that the purity factor for the triads decreases by decoherence. In this way, the universe assumes a definite orientation.
Retrieval of classical behaviour in quantum cosmology is usually discussed in the framework of minisuperspace models in the presence of scalar fields together with the inhomogeneous modes either of the gravitational or of the scalar fields. In this work we propose alternatively a model where the scalar field is replaced by a massive vector field with global $U(1)$ or SO(3) symmetries.
We study the decoherence of a renormalised quantum field theoretical system. We consider our novel correlator approach to decoherence where entropy is generated by neglecting observationally inaccessible correlators. Using out-of-equilibrium field theory techniques at finite temperatures, we show that the Gaussian von Neumann entropy for a pure quantum state asymptotes to the interacting thermal entropy. The decoherence rate can be well described by the single particle decay rate in our model. Connecting to electroweak baryogenesis scenarios, we moreover study the effects on the entropy of a c…
We investigate the time neutral formulation of quantum cosmology of Gell-Mann and Hartle. In particular we study the proposal discussed by them that our Universe corresponds to the time symmetric decoherence functional with initial and final density matrix of low entropy. We show that our Universe does not correspond to this proposal by investigating the behaviour of small inhomogeneous perturbations around a Friedman-Robertson-Walker model. These perturbations cannot be time symmetric if they were small at the Big Bang.
We present a toy model where spacetime is emergent from a more fundamental microscopic system, and investigate the gray area interpolating between the collective and free-particle regimes. For a period of rapid exponential growth in the analogue universe, we argue that the intermediate regime is best described by a coloured potpourri of geometries -- a "rainbow geometry". This can be viewed as an alternative approach towards understanding quantum field theories in the presence of Lorentz-symmetry breaking at ultraviolet scales. Firstly, it is pointed out that cosmological particle production i…
In approaches to quantum gravity, where smooth spacetime is an emergent approximation of a discrete Planckian fundamental structure, any standard effective field theoretical description will miss part of the degrees of freedom and thus break unitarity. Here we show that these expectations can be made precise in loop quantum cosmology. Concretely, even when loop quantum cosmology is unitary at the fundamental level, when microscopic degrees of freedom, irrelevant to low-energy cosmological observers, are suitably ignored, pure states in the effective description evolve into mixed states due to …
We consider the conditioning of the timeless solution to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation by a predefined matter clock state in the simple scenario of de Sitter universe. The resulting evolution of the geometrodynamical degree of freedom with respect to clock time is characterized by the "Berry connection" of the reduced geometrodynamical space, which relies on the coupling of the clock with the geometry. When the connection vanishes, the standard Schrödinger equation is obtained for the geometry with respect to clock time. When one considers environment-induced decoherence in the semi-classical li…
One of the biggest unsolved problems in physics is the unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity. The lack of experimental guidance has made the issue extremely evasive, though various attempts have been made to relate the loss of matter wave coherence to quantum spacetime fluctuations. We present a new approach to the gravitational decoherence near the Planck scale, made possible by recently discovered conformal structure of canonical gravity. This leads to a gravitational analogue of the Brownian motion whose correlation length is given by the Planck length up to a scaling fact…
Many-body gravitating quantum systems with Bose-Einstein condensates and dipolar analogue
Istituto Nazionale di Ottica, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche (INO-CNR)（意大利国家光学研究所，意大利国家研究委员会）；Physics Department, University of Naples Federico II（那不勒斯费德里科二世大学物理系）；European Laboratory for Nonlinear Spectroscopy (LENS)（欧洲非线性光谱学实验室）；Physics Department, University of Florence（佛罗伦萨大学物理系）
I give a review of the conceptual issues that arise in theories of quantum cosmology. I start by emphasising some features of ordinary quantum theory that also play a crucial role in understanding quantum cosmology. I then give motivations why spacetime cannot be treated classically at the most fundamental level. Two important issues in quantum cosmology -- the problem of time and the role of boundary conditions -- are discussed at some length. Finally, I discuss how classical spacetime can be recovered as an approximate notion. This involves the application of a semiclassical approximation an…
In this first paper we present a Lagrangian framework for the description of structure formation in general relativity, restricting attention to irrotational dust matter. As an application we present a self-contained derivation of a general-relativistic analogue of Zel'dovich's approximation for the description of structure formation in cosmology, and compare it with previous suggestions in the literature. This approximation is then investigated: paraphrasing the derivation in the Newtonian framework we provide general-relativistic analogues of the basic system of equations for a single dynami…
We present an approach to the four laws of black hole thermodynamics by utilizing the thermodynamics of quantum coherence. Firstly, Hawking effect is attributed to the decoherence of the two-mode squeezed state in a black hole spacetime. Then use is made of the relative entropy between undecohered and decohered squeezed states whose monotonicity gives the zeroth and the second law, while the first law can be obtained either by the vanishing of the first derivative of relative entropy or by studying the effective thermal model generated by the modular Hamiltonian. Futhermore, information-theore…
We investigate the origin of the arrow of time in quantum mechanics in the context of quantum cosmology. The ``Copenhagen'' quantum mechanics of measured subsystems incorporates a fundamental arrow of time. Extending discussions of Aharonov, Bergmann and Lebovitz, Griffiths, and others we investigate a generalized quantum mechanics for cosmology that utilizes both an initial and a final density matrix to give a time-neutral formulation without a fundamental arrow of time. Time asymmetries can arise for particular universes from differences between their initial and final conditions. Theories f…
We scrutize the commonly used criteria for classicality and examine their underlying issues. The two major issues we address here are that of decoherence and fluctuations. We borrow the insights gained in the study of the semiclassical limit of quantum cosmology to discuss the three criteria of classicality for a quantum closed system: adiabaticity, correlation and decoherence. We then use the Brownian model as a paradigm of quantum open systems to discuss the relation of quantum and thermal fluctuations and their role in the transition from quantum to classical. We derive the uncertainty rela…
I address the question whether the origin of the observed arrow of time can be derived from quantum cosmology. After a general discussion of entropy in cosmology and some numerical estimates, I give a brief introduction into quantum geometrodynamics and argue that this may provide a sufficient framework for studying this question. I then show that a natural boundary condition of low initial entropy can be imposed on the universal wave function. The arrow of time is then correlated with the size of the Universe and emerges from an increasing amount of decoherence due to entanglement with unobse…
A Schroedinger picture analysis of time dependent quantum oscillators, in a manner of Guth and Pi, clearly identifies two physical mechanisms for possible decoherence of vacuum fluctuations in early universe: turning of quantum oscillators upside-down, and rapid squeezing of upside-right oscillators so that certain squeezing factor diverges. In inflationary cosmology the former mechanism explains the stochastic evolution of light inflatons and the classical nature of density perturbations in most of inflationary models, while the later one is responsible for the classical evolution of relative…
Freezing lakes as analogue models of $Λ$CDM cosmology and beyond
Eindhoven University of Technology（埃因霍温理工大学）；SISSA, International School for Advanced Studies（国际高等研究院）；INFN, Sezione di Trieste（意大利国家核物理研究所的里雅斯特分部）；IFPU, Institute for Fundamental Physics of the Universe（宇宙基础物理研究所）
In the case of two-scalar field cosmology and, specifically for the Chiral model, we determine an exact solution for the field equations with a anisotropic background space. The exact solution can describe anisotropic inflation with a Kantowski-Sachs geometry and it can be seen as the anisotropic analogue of the hyperbolic inflation. Finally, we investigate the evolution for the homogeneous perturbations around the new asymptotic solution.
We illustrate the crucial role played by decoherence (consistency of quantum histories) in extracting consistent quantum probabilities for alternative histories in quantum cosmology. Specifically, within a Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmological model sourced with a free massless scalar field, we calculate the probability that the univese is singular in the sense that it assumes zero volume. Classical solutions of this model are a disjoint set of expanding and contracting singular branches. A naive assessment of the behavior of quantum states which are sup…
In this article we present a new outlook on the cosmology, based on the quantum model proposed by M. Hall, D.-A. Deckert and H. Wiseman (HDW). In continuation of the idea of that model we consider finitely many classical homogeneous and isotropic universes whose evolutions are determined by the standard Einstein-Friedman equations but that also interact with each other quantum-mechanically via the mechanism proposed by HDW. The crux of the idea lies in the fact that unlike every other interpretation of the quantum mechanics, the HDW model requires no decoherence mechanism and thus allows the q…
The increasing entropy, large-scale isotropy and approximate flatness of the universe are considered in the context of signature change, which is a classical model of quantum tunnelling in quantum cosmology. The signature change hypothesis implies an initial inflationary epoch, the magnetic half of the Weyl curvature hypothesis, and a close analogue of the conformal singularity hypothesis. Adding the electric half of the Weyl curvature hypothesis yields, for a perfect fluid, only homogeneous and isotropic cosmologies. In the cosmological-constant case, the unique solution is the Vilenkin tunne…
A class of decoherence schemes is described for implementing the principles of generalized quantum theory in reparametrization-invariant `hyperbolic' models such as minisuperspace quantum cosmology. The connection with sum-over-histories constructions is exhibited and the physical equivalence or inequivalence of different such schemes is analyzed. The discussion focuses on comparing constructions based on the Klein-Gordon product with those based on the induced (a.k.a. Rieffel, Refined Algebraic, Group Averaging, or Spectral Analysis) inner product. It is shown that the Klein-Gordon and induce…
