Physics Letters B (Sep 2015)

Dynamical interpretation of the wavefunction of the universe

  • Dongshan He,
  • Dongfeng Gao,
  • Qing-yu Cai

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2015.07.029
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 748, no. C
pp. 361 – 365

Abstract

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In this paper, we study the physical meaning of the wavefunction of the universe. With the continuity equation derived from the Wheeler–DeWitt (WDW) equation in the minisuperspace model, we show that the quantity ρ(a)=|ψ(a)|2 for the universe is inversely proportional to the Hubble parameter of the universe. Thus, ρ(a) represents the probability density of the universe staying in the state a during its evolution, which we call the dynamical interpretation of the wavefunction of the universe. We demonstrate that the dynamical interpretation can predict the evolution laws of the universe in the classical limit as those given by the Friedmann equation. Furthermore, we show that the value of the operator ordering factor p in the WDW equation can be determined to be p=−2.