The consistent histories approach to loop quantum cosmology

DOI10.1142/S0218271816420098MaRDI QIDQ2818123zbMATH OpenWikidataFDO

Authors David A. Craig

Publication date 6 September 2016

Published in International Journal of Modern Physics D (Search for Journal in Brave)

Full work available at URL https://arxiv.org/abs/1604.01385

zbMATH Keywords

alternative formulations of quantum mechanicsconsistent historiesdecoherenceloop quantum cosmology

Mathematics Subject Classification ID

Alternative quantum mechanics (including hidden variables, etc.) (81Q65) Open systems, reduced dynamics, master equations, decoherence (81S22) Quantization of the gravitational field (83C45) Relativistic cosmology (83F05)

Abstract: We review the application of the consistent (or decoherent) histories formulation of quantum theory to canonical loop quantum cosmology. Conventional quantum theory relies crucially on "measurements" to convert unrealized quantum potentialities into physical outcomes that can be assigned probabilities. In the early universe and other physical contexts in which there are no observers or measuring apparatus (or indeed, in any closed quantum system), what criteria determine which alternative outcomes may be realized and what their probabilities are? In the consistent histories formulation it is the vanishing of interference between the branch wave functions describing alternative histories -- as determined by the system's decoherence functional -- that determines which alternatives may be assigned probabilities. We describe the consistent histories formulation and how it may be applied to canonical loop quantum cosmology, describing in detail the application to homogeneous and isotropic cosmological models with scalar matter. We show how the theory may be used to make definite physical predictions in the absence of "observers". As an application, we demonstrate how the theory predicts that loop quantum models "bounce" from large volume to large volume, while conventional "Wheeler-DeWitt"-quantized universes are invariably singular. We also briefly indicate the relation to other work.

Recommendations

• Consistent histories in quantum cosmology
• Consistent probabilities in loop quantum cosmology
• The decoherent histories approach to quantum mechanics
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Cites work

• Anthropic reasoning and quantum cosmology
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Cited in

(7)

• A model for the uniqueness of data and decoherent histories
• On the relationship between modelling practices and interpretive stances in quantum mechanics
• Decoherent histories of spin networks
• Consistent histories in quantum cosmology
• Consistent probabilities in loop quantum cosmology
• Affine histories in quantum gravity: introduction and the representation for a cosmological model
• Interpretation of the triad orientations in loop quantum cosmology

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