1998/02/13 by F. G. Alvarenga, Flavio G. Alvarenga, Nivaldo A. Lemos̀ +1 · 63 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Classical mechanics #Cosmological constant #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark energy #De Sitter universe #Degrees of freedom (physics and chemistry) #Equation of state #False vacuum #Gravitation #Inflation (cosmology) #Metric expansion of space #Physics #Quantum #Quantum Mechanics and Applications #Quantum cosmology #Quantum gravity #Quantum mechanics #Relativity and Gravitational Theory #Scale factor (cosmology) #Theoretical physics #Universe #Vacuum energy #Vacuum state #Wave packet #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1023/a:1018896900336
published in General Relativity and Gravitation 30(5), 681-694 (Springer Science+Business Media) · Latex, 19 pages, to appear in Gen. Rel. Grav
arxiv created 1998/02/13 · openalex publication_date 1998/05/01 · arxiv updated 2015/06/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
By regarding the vacuum as a perfect fluid with equation of state p=-rho, de Sitter's cosmological model is quantized. Our treatment differs from previous ones in that it endows the vacuum with dynamical degrees of freedom. Instead of being postulated from the start, the cosmological constant arises from the degrees of freedom of the vacuum regarded as a dynamical entity, and a time variable can be naturally introduced. Taking the scale factor as the sole degree of freedom of the gravitational field, stationary and wave-packet solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation are found. It turns out that states of the Universe with a definite value of the cosmological constant do not exist. For the wave packets investigated, quantum effects are noticeable only for small values of the scale factor, a classical regime being attained at asymptotically large times.