TY - JOUR
T1 - Initial Conditions for a Universe
AU - Bojowald, Martin
N1 - Funding Information:
The author is grateful to A. Ashtekar and J. Baez for discussions which helped improve the interpretation of the results described here. This work was supported in part by NSF grant PHY00-90091 and the Eberly research funds of Penn State.
PY - 2003/11
Y1 - 2003/11
N2 - In physical theories, boundary or initial conditions play the role of selecting special situations which can be described by a theory with its general laws. Cosmology has long been suspected to be different in that its fundamental theory should explain the fact that we can observe only one particular realization. This is not realized, however, in the classical formulation and in its conventional quantization; the situation is even worse due to the singularity problem. In recent years, a new formulation of quantum cosmology has been developed which is based on quantum geometry, a candidate for a theory of quantum gravity. Here, the dynamical law and initial conditions turn out to be linked intimately, in combination with a solution of the singularity problem.
AB - In physical theories, boundary or initial conditions play the role of selecting special situations which can be described by a theory with its general laws. Cosmology has long been suspected to be different in that its fundamental theory should explain the fact that we can observe only one particular realization. This is not realized, however, in the classical formulation and in its conventional quantization; the situation is even worse due to the singularity problem. In recent years, a new formulation of quantum cosmology has been developed which is based on quantum geometry, a candidate for a theory of quantum gravity. Here, the dynamical law and initial conditions turn out to be linked intimately, in combination with a solution of the singularity problem.
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U2 - 10.1023/A:1026257806654
DO - 10.1023/A:1026257806654
M3 - Review article
AN - SCOPUS:0347758802
SN - 0001-7701
VL - 35
SP - 1877
EP - 1883
JO - General Relativity and Gravitation
JF - General Relativity and Gravitation
IS - 11
ER -