Rotating cosmologies: classical and quantum. Issue 10 (1st October 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nicolis, Alberto; Piazza, Federico; Zeghari, Kenza
• Is Part Of: Journal of cosmology and astroparticle physics. Volume 2022:Issue 10(2022)
• Publication Date: 2022-10-01
• Subjects: inflation -- physics of the early universe -- quantum cosmology; Cosmology -- Periodicals; Astrophysics -- Periodicals; 523.0105
• DOI: 10.1088/1475-7516/2022/10/059
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1475-7516

Abstract

Abstract: We revisit spatially flat, anisotropic cosmologies within the framework of mini-superspace. Putting special emphasis on the symmetries of the mini-superspace action and on the associated conservation laws, we unveil a new class of rotating cosmologies driven by solid matter. Their rotating is physical, in that it is characterized in an invariant way in terms of a conserved angular momentum. Along the way, we confirm the results of Bartolo et al. regarding the slow decay of anisotropies for solid inflation. We then use our minisuperspace approach as a laboratory to address certain puzzles of quantum cosmology — among these, how to characterize the spacetime symmetries of a quantum state at the level of the wavefunction of the universe. For the case of a solid driven cosmology, this question seems better defined than in more standard cases. Other questions remain unanswered, though; in particular, the general question of how to operate a minisuperspace-like truncation of degrees of freedom that is consistent at the quantum level.