Loop quantization of vacuum Bianchi I cosmology

Abstract

We analyze the loop quantization of the family of vacuum Bianchi I spacetimes, a gravitational system of which classical solutions describe homogeneous anisotropic cosmologies. We rigorously construct the operator that represents the Hamiltonian constraint, showing that the states of zero volume completely decouple from the rest of quantum states. This fact ensures that the classical cosmological singularity is resolved in the quantum theory. In addition, this allows us to adopt an equivalent quantum description in terms of a well-defined densitized Hamiltonian constraint. This latter constraint can be regarded in a certain sense as a difference evolution equation in an internal time provided by one of the triad components, which is polymerically quantized. Generically, this evolution equation is a relation between the projection of the quantum states in three different sections of constant internal time. Nevertheless, around the initial singularity the equation involves only the two closest sections with the same orientation of the triad. This has a double effect: on the one hand, physical states are determined just by the data on one section, on the other hand, the evolution defined in this way never crosses the singularity, without the need of any special boundary condition. Finally, we determine the inner product and the physical Hilbert space employing group averaging techniques, and we specify a complete algebra of Dirac observables. This completes the quantization program.