We review the application of the consistent (or decoherent) histories formulation of quantum theory to canonical loop quantum cosmology. Conventional quantum theory relies crucially on “measurements” to convert unrealized quantum potentialities into physical outcomes that can be assigned probabilities. In the early universe and other physical contexts in which there are no observers or measuring apparatus (or indeed, in any closed quantum system), what criteria determine which alternative outcomes may be realized and what their probabilities are? In the consistent histories formulation it is the vanishing of interference between the branch wave functions describing alternative histories — as determined by the system’s decoherence functional — that determines which alternatives may be assigned probabilities. We describe the consistent histories formulation and how it may be applied to canonical loop quantum cosmology, describing in detail the application to homogeneous and isotropic cosmological models with scalar matter. We show how the theory may be used to make definite physical predictions in the absence of “observers”. As an application, we demonstrate how the theory predicts that loop quantum models “bounce” from large volume to large volume, while conventional “Wheeler–DeWitt”-quantized universes are invariably singular. We also briefly indicate the relation to other work.
We review the application of the consistent (or decoherent) histories formulation of quantum theory to canonical loop quantum cosmology. Conventional quantum theory relies crucially on “measurements” to convert unrealized quantum potentialities into physical outcomes that can be assigned probabilities. In the early universe and other physical contexts in which there are no observers or measuring apparatus (or indeed, in any closed quantum system), what criteria determine which alternative outcomes may be realized and what their probabilities are? In the consistent histories formulation it is the vanishing of interference between the branch wave functions describing alternative histories — as determined by the system’s decoherence functional — that determines which alternatives may be assigned probabilities. We describe the consistent histories formulation and how it may be applied to canonical loop quantum cosmology, describing in detail the application to homogeneous and isotropic cosmological models with scalar matter. We show how the theory may be used to make definite physical predictions in the absence of “observers”. As an application, we demonstrate how the theory predicts that loop quantum models “bounce” from large volume to large volume, while conventional “Wheeler–DeWitt”-quantized universes are invariably singular. We also briefly indicate the relation to other work.
A fundamental issue for any quantum cosmological theory is to specify how probabilities can be assigned to various quantum events or sequences of events such as the occurrence of singularities or bounces. In previous work, we have demonstrated how this issue can be successfully addressed within the consistent histories approach to quantum theory for Wheeler–DeWitt-quantized cosmological models. In this work, we generalize that analysis to the exactly solvable loop quantization of a spatially flat, homogeneous and isotropic cosmology sourced with a massless, minimally coupled scalar field known as sLQC. We provide an explicit, rigorous and complete decoherent-histories formulation for this model and compute the probabilities for the occurrence of a quantum bounce versus a singularity. Using the scalar field as an emergent internal time, we show for generic states that the probability for a singularity to occur in this model is zero, and that of a bounce is unity, complementing earlier studies of the expectation values of the volume and matter density in this theory. We also show from the consistent histories point of view that all states in this model, whether quantum or classical, achieve arbitrarily large volume in the limit of infinite 'past' or 'future' scalar 'time', in the sense that the wave function evaluated at any arbitrary fixed value of the volume vanishes in that limit. Finally, we briefly discuss certain misconceptions concerning the utility of the consistent histories approach in these models.
We describe a complete, coherent framework within which probabilities may be consistently extracted from amplitudes for quantum histories in loop quantum cosmology. The decoherence functional is constructed for a loop quantization of a flat Friedmann-Lemaǐtre-Robertson-Walker cosmological model, thereby permitting consistent quantum predictions to be made in a mathematically precise model of quantum cosmology. Consistent families of quantum histories are exhibited. Singularity avoidance by generic quantum states in loop-quantized models is contrasted with the failure of parallel Wheeler-DeWitt-quantized universes to avoid the big-bang singularity. It is shown that all loop quantum states approach arbitrarily large volume Wheeler-DeWitt states in both the asymptotic "past" and "future" of emergent time. The critical role played by decoherence of histories in these predictions is illustrated.
We give an explicit, rigorous framework for calculating quantum probabilities in a model theory of quantum gravity. Specifically, we construct the decoherence functional for the Wheeler-DeWitt quantization of a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker cosmology with a free, massless, minimally coupled scalar field, thus providing a complete decoherent histories formulation for this quantum cosmological model. The decoherence functional is applied to study predictions concerning the model's Dirac (relational) observables; the behavior of semiclassical states and superpositions of such states; and to study the singular behavior of quantum Wheeler-DeWitt universes. Within this framework, rigorous formulas are given for calculating the corresponding probabilities from the wave function when those probabilities may be consistently defined, thus replacing earlier heuristics for interpreting the wave function of the universe with explicit constructions. It is shown according to a rigorously formulated standard, and in a quantum-mechanically consistent way, that in this quantization these models are generically singular. Independent of the choice of state we show that the probability for these Wheeler-DeWitt quantum universes to ever encounter a singularity is unity. In addition, the relation between histories formulations of quantum theory and relational Dirac observables is clarified.
We sketch a quantum mechanical framework for the universe as a whole. Within that framework we propose a program for describing the ultimate origin in quantum cosmology of the quasiclassical domain of familiar experience and for characterizing the process of measurement. Predictions in quantum mechanics are made from probabilities for sets of alternative histories. Probabilities can be assigned only to sets of histories that approximately decohere. Decoherence is defined and the mechanism of decoherence is reviewed. Decoherence requires a sufficiently coarse-grained description of alternative histories of the universe. A quasiclassical domain consists of a branching set of alternative decohering histories, described by a coarse graining that is maximally refined consistent with decoherence, with individual branches that exhibit a high level of classical correlation in time. A quasiclassical domain is emergent in the universe as a consequence of the initial condition and the action function of the elementary particles. It is an important question whether all the quasiclassical domains are roughly equivalent or whether there are various essentially inequivalent ones. A measurement is a correlation with variables in a quasiclassical domain. An observer (or information gathering and utilizing system) is a complex adaptive system that has evolved to exploit the relative predictability of a quasiclassical domain. We suggest that resolution of many of the problems of interpretation presented by quantum mechanics is to be accomplished, not by further scrutiny of the subject as it applies to reproducible laboratory situations, but rather by an examination of alternative histories of the universe, stemming from its initial condition, and a study of the problem of quasiclassical domains.