Skip to main content

Quantum Cosmology

A Fundamental Description of the Universe

  • Book
  • © 2011

Overview

  • Bridges the gap between quantum gravity research and cosmology
  • Discusses concepts and philosophical implications of the universe before the big bang
  • The author is credited for establishing loop quantum gravity, the main approach to understanding quantum cosmology.

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Physics (LNP, volume 835)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

eBook USD 79.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Softcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Compact, lightweight edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info
Hardcover Book USD 99.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

Table of contents (14 chapters)

  1. Quantizing the Whole Universe

  2. Introduction

  3. Quantizing the Whole Universe

  4. Effective Descriptions

  5. Beyond Isotropic Models

  6. Mathematical Issues

Keywords

About this book

Consequences of quantum gravity on grander scales are expected to be enormous: only such a theory can show how black holes really behave and where our universe came from. Applications of loop quantum gravity to cosmology have especially by now shed much light on cosmic evolution of a universe in a fundamental, microscopic description. Modern techniques are explained in this book which demonstrate how the universe could have come from a non-singular phase before the big bang, how equations for the evolution of structure can be derived, but also what fundamental limitations remain to our knowledge of the universe before the big bang.

The following topics will be covered in this book:

Hamiltonian cosmology: a general basic treatment of isotropy, perturbations and their role for observations; useful in general cosmology.
Effective equations: an efficient way to evaluate equations of quantum gravity, which is also useful in other areas of physics where quantum theory is involved.
Loop quantization: a new formalism for the atomic picture of space-time; usually presented at a sophisticated mathematical level, but evaluated here from an intuitive physical side.

The book will start with physical motivations, rather than mathematical developments which is more common in other expositions of this field. All the required mathematical methods will be presented, but will not distract the reader from seeing the underlying physics. Simple but representative models will be presented first to show the basic features, which are then used to work upwards to a general description of quantum gravity and its applications in cosmology. This will make the book accessible to a more general physics readership.

Authors and Affiliations

  • Center for Gravitational, Physics & Geometry, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, USA

    Martin Bojowald

About the author

Professor Martin Bojowald works on quantum gravity and has initiated loop quantum gravity, which is the main approach to quantum cosmology and the subject of this book. For his work, he has received the First Prize of the Gravity Research Foundation Essay Competition in 2003, the Xanthopoulos Prize of the International Society on General Relativity and Gravitation in 2007, and an NSF Early Career Award in 2008. He has also written several pieces for a general audience on the subject.

Bibliographic Information

  • Book Title: Quantum Cosmology

  • Book Subtitle: A Fundamental Description of the Universe

  • Authors: Martin Bojowald

  • Series Title: Lecture Notes in Physics

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4419-8276-6

  • Publisher: Springer New York, NY

  • eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)

  • Copyright Information: Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011

  • Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-4419-8275-9Published: 15 July 2011

  • Softcover ISBN: 978-1-4614-3017-9Published: 06 November 2013

  • eBook ISBN: 978-1-4419-8276-6Published: 15 July 2011

  • Series ISSN: 0075-8450

  • Series E-ISSN: 1616-6361

  • Edition Number: 1

  • Number of Pages: X, 310

  • Topics: Classical and Quantum Gravitation, Relativity Theory, Quantum Physics

Publish with us