Quantum Tunneling and the Emergence of Classical Spacetime in Einstein-Æther Quantum Cosmology — E8 Intelligence Research
Year: 2026
Type: preprint
Abstract: We investigate a quantum cosmological model within the framework of Einstein-Æther gravity. The model consists of a positively curved FLRW Universe whose matter content is described by pressureless dust, in the presence of a positive cosmological constant $Λ$. We first perform a classical Hamiltonian analysis utilizing Schutz's variational formalism, constructing the phase space and deriving the dynamics of the scale factor. Notably, we identify specific initial conditions that lead to an inflationary expansion, which are extracted directly from the underlying quantum dynamics. Subsequently, we quantize the model following Dirac's formalism, obtaining the Wheeler-DeWitt equation for the wave function of the Universe. We solve this equation numerically and investigate our results using the WKB approximation to compute quantum tunneling probabilities $TP_{WKB}$ alongside an integrated tunneling probability $TP_{int}$, the expectation value of the scale factor coming from the many-worlds Author: Andrew Stewart Caldin, Independent Researcher, UK. Part of the E8 Intelligence Research series. Platform: e8intelligence.com
Author: Caldin, Andrew Stewart
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225621801
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