Inflation and Loop Quantum Cosmology

TL;DR

This paper explores how loop quantum cosmology (LQC) and inflation can complement each other, with LQC potentially naturally generating inflation and inflation providing testability for LQC, addressing key issues in both theories.

Contribution

It proposes a synergy between LQC and inflation, suggesting that LQC can naturally produce inflation and that inflation can help test LQC, bridging theoretical gaps.

Findings

LQC can naturally generate inflationary conditions.

Inflation provides a potential observational test for LQC.

The combined approach addresses naturalness and testability issues.

Abstract

On the one hand, inflation is an extremely convincing scenario: it solves most cosmological paradoxes and generates fluctuations that became the seeds for the growth of structures. It, however, suffers from a "naturalness" problem: generating initial conditions for inflation is far from easy. On the other hand, loop quantum cosmology is very successful: it solves the Big Bang singularity through a non-perturbative and background-independent quantization of general relativity. It, however, suffers from a key drawback: it is extremely difficult to test. Recent results can let us hope that inflation and LQC could mutually cure those pathologies: LQC seems to naturally generate inflation and inflation could allow us to test LQC.