Quantum Cosmology with Third Quantisation

Abstract

We reviewed the canonical quantisation of the geometry of the spacetime in the cases of a simply and a non-simply connected manifold. In the former, we analysed the information contained in the solutions of the Wheeler–DeWitt equation and showed their interpretation in terms of the customary boundary conditions that are typically imposed on the semiclassical wave functions. In particular, we reviewed three different paradigms for the quantum creation of a homogeneous and isotropic universe. For the quantisation of a non-simply connected manifold, the best framework is the third quantisation formalism, in which the wave function of the universe is seen as a field that propagates in the space of Riemannian 3-geometries, which turns out to be isomorphic to a (part of a) 1 + 5 Minkowski spacetime. Thus, the quantisation of the wave function follows the customary formalism of a quantum field theory. A general review of the formalism is given, and the creation of the universes is analysed, including their initial expansion and the appearance of matter after inflation. These features are presented in more detail in the case of a homogeneous and isotropic universe. The main conclusion in both cases is that the most natural way in which the universes should be created is in entangled universe–antiuniverse pairs.

Keywords

• quantum cosmology
• multiverse
• superspace
• third quantisation
• universe–antiuniverse pair