An introduction to quantum cosmology
D.L. Wiltshire
ADP-95-11/M28, gr-qc/0101003
in Cosmology: The Physics of the Universe,
Proceedings of the 8th Physics Summer School, A.N.U, Jan-Feb, 1995,
eds. B. Robson, N. Visvanathan and W.S. Woolcock (World Scientific, Singapore,
1996), pp. 473-531. ISBN 981-02-2513-X.
This is an introductory set of lecture notes on quantum cosmology, given to
an audience with interests ranging from astronomy to particle physics. Topics
covered:
1. Introduction
- 1.1 Quantum cosmology and quantum gravity
- 1.2 A brief history
of quantum cosmology
2. Hamiltonian Formulation of General Relativity
- 2.1 The 3+1 decomposition
- 2.2 The action
3. Quantisation - 3.1 Superspace
- 3.2 Canonical quantisation
- 3.3 Path integral quantisation
- 3.4 Minisuperspace
- 3.5 The WKB approximation
- 3.6 Probability measures
- 3.7 Minisuperspace for the Friedmann universe with massive scalar
field
4. Boundary Conditions
- 4.1 The no-boundary proposal
- 4.2 The tunneling proposal
5. The Predictions of Quantum Cosmology
- 5.1 The period of inflation
- 5.2 The origin of density
perturbations
- 5.3 The arrow of time
The paper (59 pages, 11 figures) is available as:
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