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Phys. Rev. D 78, 023504 (2008) [6 pages]

Can quantum gravitational effects influence the entire history of the Universe?

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Edésio M. Barboza, Jr.1,* and Nivaldo A. Lemos2,†
1Departamento de Astronomia, Observatório Nacional, 20921-400, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
2Instituto de Física, Universidade Federal Fluminense, 24210-340, Niterói, Brazil

Received 20 December 2007; published 3 July 2008

In this work, a flat Friedmann-Robertson-Walker universe with dust and a cosmological constant is quantized. By means of a canonical transformation, the classical Hamiltonian is reduced to that of either a harmonic oscillator or anti-oscillator, depending on whether Λ<0 or Λ>0, respectively. In this way, exact solutions to the Wheeler-DeWitt equation can easily be obtained. It turns out that a positive cosmological constant alone may account for an early inflationary regime and a later accelerated expansion phase, with a period of decelerated expansion in between. This suggests that quantum-gravitational effects can influence most of the history or even the entire history of the Universe.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.023504
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.78.023504
PACS:
98.80.Qc, 04.60.Ds

*edesio@on.br

nivaldo@if.uff.br