corner
corner

Phys. Rev. Lett. 94, 111302 (2005) [4 pages]

Absence of Preclassical Solutions in Bianchi I Loop Quantum Cosmology

Download: PDF (84 kB) Buy this article Export: BibTeX or EndNote (RIS)

Daniel Cartin*
Naval Academy Preparatory School, 197 Elliot Street, Newport, Rhode Island 02841, USA

Gaurav Khanna
Physics Department, University of Massachusetts at Dartmouth, North Dartmouth, Massachusetts 02747, USA

Received 6 January 2005; published 24 March 2005

Loop quantum cosmology, the symmetry reduction of quantum geometry for the study of various cosmological situations, leads to a difference equation for its quantum evolution equation. To ensure that solutions of this equation act in the expected classical manner far from singularities, additional restrictions are imposed on the solution. In this Letter, we consider the Bianchi I model, both the vacuum case and the addition of a cosmological constant, and show using generating function techniques that only the zero solution satisfies these constraints. This implies either that there are technical difficulties with the current method of quantizing the evolution equation, or else loop quantum gravity imposes strong restrictions on the physically allowed solutions.

© 2005 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.111302
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevLett.94.111302
PACS:
04.60.Pp, 04.60.Kz, 98.80.Qc

*Electronic address: cartin@naps.edu

Electronic address: gkhanna@UMassD.Edu