Anomaly-free cosmological perturbations in effective canonical quantum gravity

Abstract

This article lays out a complete framework for an effective theory of cosmological perturbations with corrections from canonical quantum gravity. Since several examples exist for quantum-gravity effects that change the structure of space-time, the classical perturbative treatment must be rethought carefully. The present discussion provides a unified picture of several previous works, together with new treatments of higher-order perturbations and the specification of initial states.

1+52 pages. v2: discussions extended and improved throughout the text, references added, typos corrected, conclusions unchanged