Physics Letters B (May 2021)

Quantum potential in bouncing dust collapse with a negative cosmological constant

  • Sandip Chowdhury,
  • Kunal Pal,
  • Kuntal Pal,
  • Tapobrata Sarkar

Journal volume & issue
Vol. 816
p. 136269

Abstract

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In the functional Schrodinger formalism, we obtain the wave function describing collapsing dust in an anti-de Sitter background, as seen by a co-moving observer, by mapping the resulting variable mass Schrodinger equation to that of the quantum isotonic oscillator. Using this wave function, we perform a causal de Broglie-Bohm analysis, and obtain the corresponding quantum potential. We construct a bouncing geometry via a disformal transformation, incorporating quantum effects. We derive the external solution that matches with this smoothly, and is also quantum corrected. Due to a pressure term originating from the quantum potential, an initially collapsing solution with a negative cosmological constant bounces back after reaching a minimum radius, and thereby avoids the classical singularity predicted by general relativity.