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Phys. Rev. D 78, 064047 (2008) [9 pages]

Covariant entropy bound and loop quantum cosmology

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Abhay Ashtekar* and Edward Wilson-Ewing
Institute for Gravitation and the Cosmos & Physics Department, Penn State, University Park, Pennsylvania 16802, USA

Received 26 May 2008; published 18 September 2008

We examine Bousso’s covariant entropy bound conjecture in the context of radiation filled, spatially flat, Friedmann-Robertson-Walker models. The bound is violated near the big bang. However, the hope has been that quantum gravity effects would intervene and protect it. Loop quantum cosmology provides a near ideal setting for investigating this issue. For, on the one hand, quantum geometry effects resolve the singularity and, on the other hand, the wave function is sharply peaked at a quantum corrected but smooth geometry, which can supply the structure needed to test the bound. We find that the bound is respected. We suggest that the bound need not be an essential ingredient for a quantum gravity theory but may emerge from it under suitable circumstances.

© 2008 The American Physical Society

URL:
http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevD.78.064047
DOI:
10.1103/PhysRevD.78.064047
PACS:
04.60.Pp, 98.80.Qc

*ashtekar@gravity.psu.edu

wilsonewing@gravity.psu.edu