A possible solution to the problem of time in quantum cosmology

dc.creatorKauffman, Stuart
dc.creatorSmolin, Lee
dc.date1997-03-09
dc.date.accessioned2026-07-07T03:31:31Z
dc.date.available2026-07-07T03:31:31Z
dc.descriptionWe argue that in classical and quantum theories of gravity the configuration space and Hilbert space may not be constructible through any finite procedure. If this is the case then the "problem of time" in quantum cosmology may be a pseudo-problem, because the argument that time disappears from the theory depends on constructions that cannot be realized by any finite beings that live in the universe. We propose an alternative formulation of quantum cosmological theories in which it is only necessary to predict the amplitudes for any given state to evolve to a finite number of possible successor states. The space of accessible states of the system is then constructed as the universe evolves from any initial state. In this kind of formulation of quantum cosmology time and causality are built in at the fundamental level. An example of such a theory is the recent path integral formulation of quantum gravity of Markopoulou and Smolin, but there are a wide class of theories of this type.
dc.descriptionLatex, 15 pages, no figures
dc.identifierhttps://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9703026
dc.identifierhttp://arxiv.org/abs/gr-qc/9703026
dc.identifier.urihttp://salesiana.dossiersoluciones.com/handle/123456789/35892
dc.subjectGeneral Relativity and Quantum Cosmology
dc.titleA possible solution to the problem of time in quantum cosmology
dc.typetext

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