8 research outputs found
On Energy Conditions and Stability in Effective Loop Quantum Cosmology
In isotropic loop quantum cosmology, non-perturbatively modified dynamics of
a minimally coupled scalar field violates weak, strong and dominant energy
conditions when they are stated in terms of equation of state parameter. The
violation of strong energy condition helps to have non-singular evolution by
evading singularity theorems thus leading to a generic inflationary phase.
However, the violation of weak and dominant energy conditions raises concern,
as in general relativity these conditions ensure causality of the system and
stability of vacuum via Hawking-Ellis conservation theorem. It is shown here
that the non-perturbatively modified kinetic term contributes negative pressure
but positive energy density. This crucial feature leads to violation of energy
conditions but ensures positivity of energy density, as scalar matter
Hamiltonian remains bounded from below. It is also shown that the modified
dynamics restricts group velocity for inhomogeneous modes to remain sub-luminal
thus ensuring causal propagation across spatial distances.Comment: 29 pages, revtex4; few clarifications, references added, to appear in
CQ
Universe from vacuum in loop-string cosmology
In this paper we study the description of the Universe based on the low
energy superstring theory modified by the Loop Quantum Gravity effects.This
approach was proposed by De Risi et al. in the Phys. Rev. D {\bf 76} (2007)
103531. We show that in the contrast with the string motivated pre-Big Bang
scenario, the cosmological realisation of the -duality transformation is not
necessary to avoid an initial singularity. In the model considered the universe
starts its evolution in the vacuum phase at time . In this phase
the scale factor , energy density and coupling of the
interactions . After this stage the universe evolves to the
non-singular hot Big Bang phase . Then the
standard classical universe emerges. During the whole evolution the scale
factor increases monotonically. We solve this model analytically. We also
propose and solve numerically the model with an additional dilaton potential in
which the universe starts the evolution from the asymptotically free vacuum
phase and then evolves non-singularly to the emerging dark energy
dominated phase with the saturated coupling constant .Comment: JHEP3 LaTeX class, 19 pages, 9 figures, v2: added some comments and
references, v3: new numerical result added, new figure
Effective State Metamorphosis in Semi-Classical Loop Quantum Cosmology
Modification to the behavior of geometrical density at short scales is a key
result of loop quantum cosmology, responsible for an interesting phenomenology
in the very early universe. We demonstrate the way matter with arbitrary scale
factor dependence in Hamiltonian incorporates this change in its effective
dynamics in the loop modified phase. For generic matter, the equation of state
starts varying near a critical scale factor, becomes negative below it and
violates strong energy condition. This opens a new avenue to generalize various
phenomenological applications in loop quantum cosmology. We show that different
ways to define energy density may yield radically different results, especially
for the case corresponding to classical dust. We also discuss implications for
frequency dispersion induced by modification to geometric density at small
scales.Comment: Revised version; includes expanded discussion of natural
trans-Planckian modifications to frequency dispersion and robustness to
quantization ambiguities. To appear in Class. Quant. Gra
Classical Setting and Effective Dynamics for Spinfoam Cosmology
We explore how to extract effective dynamics from loop quantum gravity and
spinfoams truncated to a finite fixed graph, with the hope of modeling
symmetry-reduced gravitational systems. We particularize our study to the
2-vertex graph with N links. We describe the canonical data using the recent
formulation of the phase space in terms of spinors, and implement a
symmetry-reduction to the homogeneous and isotropic sector. From the canonical
point of view, we construct a consistent Hamiltonian for the model and discuss
its relation with Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmologies. Then, we analyze the
dynamics from the spinfoam approach. We compute exactly the transition
amplitude between initial and final coherent spin networks states with support
on the 2-vertex graph, for the choice of the simplest two-complex (with a
single space-time vertex). The transition amplitude verifies an exact
differential equation that agrees with the Hamiltonian constructed previously.
Thus, in our simple setting we clarify the link between the canonical and the
covariant formalisms.Comment: 38 pages, v2: Link with discretized loop quantum gravity made
explicit and emphasize
Hints of (trans-Planckian) asymptotic freedom in semiclassical cosmology
We employ the semiclassical approximation to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation in
the spatially flat de Sitter Universe to investigate the dynamics of a
minimally coupled scalar field near the Planck scale. We find that, contrary to
naive intuition, the effects of quantum gravitational fluctuations become
negligible and the scalar field states asymptotically approach plane-waves at
very early times. These states can then be used as initial conditions for the
quantum states of matter to show that each mode essentially originated in the
minimum energy vacuum. Although the full quantum dynamics cannot be solved
exactly for the case at hand, our results can be considered as supporting the
general idea of asymptotic safety in quantum gravity.Comment: 11 pages, 2 figures; replaced to match content of published versio
Early Universe Dynamics in Semi-Classical Loop Quantum Cosmology
Within the framework of loop quantum cosmology, there exists a semi-classical
regime where spacetime may be approximated in terms of a continuous manifold,
but where the standard Friedmann equations of classical Einstein gravity
receive non-perturbative quantum corrections. An approximate, analytical
approach to studying cosmic dynamics in this regime is developed for both
spatially flat and positively-curved isotropic universes sourced by a
self-interacting scalar field. In the former case, a direct correspondence
between the classical and semi-classical field equations can be established
together with a scale factor duality that directly relates different expanding
and contracting universes. Some examples of non-singular, bouncing cosmologies
are presented together with a scaling, power-law solution.Comment: 14 pages, In Press, JCA