1993/02/19 by B. L. Hu, Hu, B. L., Juan Pablo Paz +3 · 1 citation
Engineering · Physics and Astronomy · #FOS: Physical sciences #General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology (gr-qc) #Nanotechnology research and applications #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.gr-qc/9302025
21 pages, umdpp 93-60, Latex
arxiv created 1993/02/19 · openalex publication_date 1993/02/19 · arxiv updated 2009/11/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
We trace the development of ideas on dissipative processes in chaotic cosmology and on minisuperspace quantum cosmology from the time Misner proposed them to current research. We show 1) how the effect of quantum processes like particle creation in the early universe can address the issues of the isotropy and homogeneity of the observed universe, 2) how viewing minisuperspace as a quantum open system can address the issue of the validity of such approximations customarily adopted in quantum cosmology, and 3) how invoking statistical processes like decoherence and correlation when considered together can help to establish a theory of quantum fields in curved spacetime as the semiclassical limit of quantum gravity. \it Dedicated to Professor Misner on the occasion of his sixtieth birthday, June 1992. To appear in the Proceedings of a Symposium on \it Directions in General Relativity, College Park, May 1993, Volume 1, edited by B. L. Hu, M. P. Ryan and C. V. Vishveshwara (Cambridge University Press 1993)~~~~umdpp 93-60