Quantum cosmology from quantum gravity condensates: cosmological variables and lattice-refined dynamics

TL;DR

This paper explores how quantum gravity condensates influence cosmological variables and dynamics, establishing a link with loop quantum cosmology and introducing the quantum gravitational atomic number N as a key observable.

Contribution

It clarifies the extraction of cosmological variables from quantum gravity condensates and demonstrates the dependence of cosmological equations on the quantum gravitational atomic number N.

Findings

Cosmological variables depend on the quantum gravitational atomic number N.

Effective cosmological equations relate to loop quantum cosmology as a hydrodynamic approximation.

Lattice refinement is fundamentally linked to the observable N, affecting the scale factor.

Abstract

In the context of group field theory condensate cosmology, we clarify the extraction of cosmological variables from the microscopic quantum gravity degrees of freedom. We show that an important implication of the second quantized formalism is the dependence of cosmological variables and equations on the quantum gravitational atomic number N (number of spin network vertices/elementary simplices). We clarify the relation of the effective cosmological equations with loop quantum cosmology, understood as an effective (hydrodynamic-like) approximation of a more fundamental quantum gravity theory. By doing so, we provide a fundamental basis to the idea of lattice refinement, showing the dependence of the effective cosmological connection on N, and hence indirectly on the scale factor. Our results open a new arena for exploring effective cosmological dynamics, as this depends crucially on the new observable N, which is entirely of quantum gravitational origin.