Boundary Conditions and Predictions of Quantum Cosmology

Abstract

A complete model of the universe needs at least three parts: (1) a complete set of physical variables and dynamical laws for them, (2) the correct solution of the dynamical laws, and (3) the connection with conscious experience. In quantum cosmology, item (1) is often called a `theory of everything,' and item (2) is the quantum state of the cosmos. Hartle and Hawking have made the `no-boundary' proposal, that the wavefunction of the universe is given by a path integral over all compact Euclidean 4-dimensional geometries and matter fields that have the 3-dimensional argument of the wavefunction on their one and only boundary. This proposal has had several partial successes, mainly when one takes the zero-loop approximation of summing over a small number of complex extrema of the action. However, it has also been severely challenged by an argument by Susskind.

7 pages, LaTeX, invited lecture for Session COT5 of the 11th Marcel Grossmann Meeting on General Relativity, 2006 July 24