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Tunneling wave function of the universe II: the backreaction problem

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arxiv 1812.08084 v2 pith:7PC6XJEI submitted 2018-12-19 gr-qc hep-th

classification gr-qchep-th
keywords fieldfunctionwavescalartunnelinguniverseback-reactionfactor
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abstract

The tunneling wave function of the universe is calculated exactly for a de Sitter minisuperspace model with a massless conformally coupled scalar field, both by solving the Wheeler-DeWitt equation and by evaluating the Lorentzian path integral. The same wave function is found in both approaches. The back-reaction of quantum field fluctuations on the scale factor amounts to a constant renormalization of the vacuum energy density. This is in contrast to the recent suggestion of Feldbrugge $et$ $al.$ that the back-reaction should diverge when the scale factor gets small, $a \to 0$. Similar results are found for a massive scalar field in the limit of a large mass. We also verified that the tunneling wave function can be expressed as a transition amplitude from a universe of vanishing size with the scalar field in the state of Euclidean vacuum, as it was suggested in our earlier work.

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Cited by 3 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

  1. On quantum creation of a toroidal universe

    gr-qc 2025-08 accept novelty 7.0 of 10

    Toroidal universes with vacuum energy are geodesically incomplete, and their semiclassical nucleation instantons are singular, so quantum creation from nothing cannot be described within semiclassical quantum gravity.

  2. A Small-Throat Boundary Condition for the Tunneling Wave Function of the Universe

    gr-qc 2026-07 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

    Tunneling wave function of a closed universe is recovered as the ε o0 limit of a Neumann-plus-small-domain path integral with radiation-induced throat, excluding the unsuppressed outer saddle.

  3. The Wave Function of the Universe and Inflation

    gr-qc 2025-10 reject novelty 3.0 of 10

    Rearranging the Wheeler-DeWitt equation defines the inflaton potential in terms of an arbitrary wave-function phase and amplitude; nothing constrains that wave function, so the potential is relabeled rather than deriv...

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