Abstract
The conformal quantization method of Narlikar and Padmanabhan is reformulated with a view to take into account theexact propagator and to provide explicitnumerical estimates of various predictions for dust cosmologies. It is found that in spite of the divergence of quantum fluctuations at the big-bang epoch it is possible to construct wave packets which remain sharp fromt=10−70s, say, up to the present epoch provided the present state is finely tuned to the classical one. Also, if the transition probability from the Minkowski to the FRW metric is calculated using Gaussian wave functions (with zero mean) then thet 2/3 models withk = 0, ± 1 cannot be distinguished, i.e., a fine tuning to the flat (k=0) model does not seem to result if the conformal factor depends on time only.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Isham, C. J., Penrose, R., and Sciama, D. W. (1975).Quantum Gravity (Clarendon Press, Oxford).
Guth, A. H. (1981).Phys. Rev. D,23, 347.
Padmanabhan, T. (1982). Ph.D. Dissertation, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, India.
Narlikar, J. V. (1981).Found. Phys.,11, 473.
Narlikar, J. V., and Padmanabhan, T. (1983).Ann. Phys.,150 (2), 289.
Narlikar, J. V., and Padmanabhan, T. (1983).Phys. Rep.,100 (3), 151.
Narlikar, J. V. (1978).Lectures on General Relativity and Cosmology (Macmillan, New York).
Infeld, L., and Schild, A. (1945).Phys. Rev.,68, 250.
Schiff, L. I. (1986).Quantum Mechanics (McGraw-Hill, New York).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lahiri, J., Menon, V.J. Quantum conformal fluctuations revisited. Gen Relat Gravit 20, 623–634 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758967
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00758967