An introduction to quantum cosmology
Abstract
Description
This is an introductory set of lecture notes on quantum cosmology, given in 1995 to an audience with interests ranging from astronomy to particle physics. Topics covered: 1. Introduction: 1.1 Quantum cosmology and quantum gravity; 1.2 A brief history of quantum cosmology. 2. Hamiltonian formulation of general relativity: 2.1 The 3+1 decomposition; 2.2 The action. 3. Quantisation: 3.1 Superspace; 3.2 Canonical quantisation; 3.3 Path integral quantisation; 3.4 Minisuperspace; 3.5 The WKB approximation; 3.6 Probability measures; 3.7 Minisuperspace for the Friedmann universe with massive scalar field. 4. Boundary Conditions: 4.1 The no-boundary proposal; 4.2 The tunneling proposal. 5. The predictions of quantum cosmology: 5.1 The period of inflation; 5.2 The origin of density perturbations; 5.3 The arrow of time.
60 pages, harvmac, 11 figures, epsf. These summer school lecture notes have been available for 5 years; but are being placed on the archive to make them more easily accessible. Published in "Cosmology: the Physics of the Universe", eds B. Robson, N. Visvanathan and W.S. Woolcock (World Scientific, Singapore, 1996) pp 473-531; v2 reference added, typo fixed
60 pages, harvmac, 11 figures, epsf. These summer school lecture notes have been available for 5 years; but are being placed on the archive to make them more easily accessible. Published in "Cosmology: the Physics of the Universe", eds B. Robson, N. Visvanathan and W.S. Woolcock (World Scientific, Singapore, 1996) pp 473-531; v2 reference added, typo fixed