ERC Consolidator Grant · 2017
Quantum Effects in Early Universe Cosmology
Ultimately, every question in cosmology leads back to the question of initial conditions. Classical physics, even in the context of an inflationary phase, cannot address this question – this is the domain of quantum cosmology. The best known theories of initial conditions are the no-boundary and tunnelling proposals. Both were formulated somewhat heuristically, in the path integral approach to quantising gravity. And due to a lack of adequate means, progress has been relatively modest in this subject. Qosmology will apply new mathematical methods, based on Picard-Lefschetz theory, to define gravitational path integrals rigorously for the first time. Generalised theoretical concepts, in…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.