Replication regulates volume weighting in quantum cosmology - IN2P3 - Institut national de physique nucléaire et de physique des particules
Article Dans Une Revue Physical Review D Année : 2009

Replication regulates volume weighting in quantum cosmology

J. Hartle
  • Fonction : Auteur
T. Hertog
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Probabilities for observations in cosmology are conditioned both on the Universe's quantum state and on local data specifying the observational situation. We show the quantum state defines a measure for prediction through such conditional probabilities that is well-behaved for spatially large or infinite universes when the probabilities that our data are replicated are taken into account. In histories where our data are rare volume weighting connects top-down probabilities conditioned on both the data and the quantum state to the bottom-up probabilities conditioned on the quantum state alone. We apply these principles to a calculation of the number of inflationary e-folds in a homogeneous, isotropic minisuperspace model with a single scalar field moving in a quadratic potential. We find that volume weighting is justified and the top-down probabilities favor a large number of e-folds, hereby predicting the curvature of our Universe at the present time to be approximately zero.

Dates et versions

in2p3-00722556 , version 1 (02-08-2012)

Identifiants

Citer

J. Hartle, T. Hertog. Replication regulates volume weighting in quantum cosmology. Physical Review D, 2009, 80, pp.063531. ⟨10.1103/PhysRevD.80.063531⟩. ⟨in2p3-00722556⟩
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