Quantum Cosmology from Group Field Theory Condensates: a Review

• Veröffentlicht in: Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications
• Datum: 2016
• Hauptverfasser: Gielen, S., Sindoni, L.
• Format: Artikel
• Sprache: Englisch
• Veröffentlicht: Інститут математики НАН України 2016
• Online Zugang: https://nasplib.isofts.kiev.ua/handle/123456789/147844
• Назва журналу: Digital Library of Periodicals of National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine
• Zitieren: Quantum Cosmology from Group Field Theory Condensates: a Review / S. Gielen, L. Sindoni // Symmetry, Integrability and Geometry: Methods and Applications. — 2016. — Т. 12. — Бібліогр.: 135 назв. — англ.

We give, in some detail, a critical overview over recent work towards deriving a cosmological phenomenology from the fundamental quantum dynamics of group field theory (GFT), based on the picture of a macroscopic universe as a ''condensate'' of a large number of quanta of geometry which are given by excitations of the GFT field over a ''no-space'' vacuum. We emphasise conceptual foundations, relations to other research programmes in GFT and the wider context of loop quantum gravity (LQG), and connections to the quantum physics of real Bose-Einstein condensates. We show how to extract an effective dynamics for GFT condensates from the microscopic GFT physics, and how to compare it with predictions of more conventional quantum cosmology models, in particular loop quantum cosmology (LQC). No detailed familiarity with the GFT formalism is assumed.