Cosmological constant, quantum measurement and the problem of time

Shreya Banerjee, Sayantani Bera, Tejinder P. Singh

Research output: Contribution to journalReview articlepeer-review

6 Scopus citations

Abstract

Three of the big puzzles of theoretical physics are the following: (i) There is apparently no time evolution in the dynamics of quantum general relativity (QGR), because the allowed quantum states must obey the Hamiltonian constraint. (ii) During a quantum measurement, the state of the quantum system randomly collapses from being in a linear superposition of the eigenstates of the measured observable, to just one of the eigenstates, in apparent violation of the predictions of the deterministic, linear Schrödinger equation. (iii) The observed value of the cosmological constant is exceedingly small, compared to its natural value, creating a serious fine-tuning problem. In this essay, we propose a novel idea to show how the three problems help solve each other.

Original languageEnglish
Article number1544011
JournalInternational Journal of Modern Physics D
Volume24
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - 1 Oct 2015
Externally publishedYes

Keywords

  • Cosmological constant
  • Wheeler-DeWitt equation
  • inflation
  • minisuperspace
  • quantum measurement

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Mathematical Physics
  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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