FRW quantum cosmology with a generalized Chaplygin gas

Cosmologies with a Chaplygin gas have recently been explored with the objective of explaining the transition from a dust dominated epoch towards an accelerating expansion stage. In this context, we consider the hypothesis that this transition involves a quantum mechanical process. Our analysis is entirely analytical, with the objective of finding explicit mathematical expressions for the different quantum mechanical states and their cosmological implications. We employ a Friedmann-Robertson-Walker (FRW) minisuperspace model, characterized by two Lorentzian sectors, separated by a classically forbidden region. This is the configuration associated with the evolution of a generalized Chaplygin gas in a FRW universe. The Hartle-Hawking and Vilenkin wave functions are then computed, together with the transition amplitudes towards the accelerating epoch. Furthermore, for specific initial conditions we found that the generalized Chaplygin gas parameters become related through an expression involving an integer n. We also introduce a phenomenological association between some brane-world scenarios and a FRW minisuperspace cosmology with a generalized Chaplygin gas. The aim is to promote a discussion and subsequent research on the quantum creation of brane cosmologies from such a perspective. Additional results in this paper suggest that the brane tension would become related with the generalized Chaplygin gas parameters through another expression involving an integer.