No-boundary proposal in biaxial Bianchi IX minisuperspace
File(s)1904.11602.pdf (3.06 MB)
Accepted version
OA Location
Author(s)
Janssen, O
Halliwell, JJ
Hertog, T
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
We implement the no-boundary proposal for the wave function of the Universe in an exactly solvable Bianchi IX minisuperspace model with two scale factors. We extend our earlier work [Phys. Rev. Lett. 121, 081302 (2018)] to include the contribution from the CP2\B4 topology. The resulting wave function yields normalizable probabilities and thus fits into a predictive framework for semiclassical quantum cosmology. We find that the amplitude is low for large anisotropies. In the isotropic limit, the usual Hartle-Hawking wave function for the de Sitter minisuperspace model is recovered. Inhomogeneous perturbations in an extended minisuperspace are shown to be initially in their ground state. We also demonstrate that the precise mathematical implementation of the no-boundary proposal as a functional integral in minisuperspace depends on detailed aspects of the model, including the choice of gauge fixing. This shows in particular that the choice of contour cannot be fundamental, adding weight to the recent proposal that the semiclassical no-boundary wave function should be defined solely in terms of a collection of saddle points. We adopt this approach in most of this paper. Finally, we show that the semiclassical tunneling wave function of the Universe is essentially equal to the no-boundary state in this particular minisuperspace model, at least in the subset of the classical domain where the former is known.
Date Issued
2019-06-12
Date Acceptance
2019-06-01
Citation
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology, 2019, 99 (12)
ISSN
1550-2368
Publisher
American Physical Society
Journal / Book Title
Physical Review D: Particles, Fields, Gravitation and Cosmology
Volume
99
Issue
12
Copyright Statement
© 2019 American Physical Society
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000473028100005&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Physical Sciences
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Physics, Particles & Fields
Physics
STEEPEST-DESCENT CONTOURS
PATH-INTEGRAL APPROACH
TUNNELING WAVE-FUNCTION
QUANTUM COSMOLOGY
GRAVITY
QUANTIZATION
DERIVATION
EQUATION
CREATION
ORIGIN
Publication Status
Published
Article Number
ARTN 123531
Date Publish Online
2019-06-27