Universe (Aug 2018)
Using Trajectories in Quantum Cosmology
Abstract
Quantum cosmology based on the Wheeler De Witt equation represents a simple way to implement plausible quantum effects in a gravitational setup. In its minisuperspace version wherein one restricts attention to FLRW metrics with a single scale factor and only a few degrees of freedom describing matter, one can obtain exact solutions and thus acquire full knowledge of the wave function. Although this is the usual way to treat a quantum mechanical system, it turns out however to be essentially meaningless in a cosmological framework. Turning to a trajectory approach then provides an effective means of deriving physical consequences.
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