Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: We consider quantization of the gravity-scalar field system in the minisuperspace approximation. It turns out that in the gauge fixed deparametrized theory where the scale factor plays the role of time, the Hamiltonian can be uniquely defined without any ordering ambiguity as the square root of a self-adjoint operator. Moreover, the Hamiltonian degenerates to zero and the Schrödinger equation becomes well behaved as the scale factor vanishes. Therefore, there is no technical or physical obstruction for the initial wave function of the universe to be an arbitrary vector in the Hilbert space, which demonstrates the severeness of the initial condition problem in quantum cosmology.
Source: Modern Physics Letters A
Author: Ali Kaya
Institution: Boğaziçi University
Language: English
Subfield: Statistical and Nonlinear Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W2906975237