Tunneling dynamics in cosmological bounce models. Issue 11 (16th November 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Bojowald, Martin; Jones, Brenda
• Is Part Of: Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics. Volume 2021:Issue 11(2021)
• Publication Date: 2021-11-16
• Subjects: quantum cosmology -- cosmic singularity; Cosmology -- Periodicals; Astrophysics -- Periodicals; 523.0105
• DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2021/11/037
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-7516

Abstract

Abstract: Quasiclassical methods are used to define dynamical tunneling times in models of quantum cosmological bounces. These methods provide relevant new information compared with the traditional treatment of quantum tunneling by means of tunneling probabilities. As shown here, the quantum dynamics in bounce models is not secure from reaching zero scale factor, re-opening the question of how the classical singularity may be avoided. Moreover, in the examples studied here, tunneling times remain small even for large barriers, highlighting the quantum instability of underlying bounce models.