Dark Energy and Inflation in a Gravitational Wave Dominated Universe

TL;DR

This paper proposes that quantum and classical gravitational waves can form a de Sitter state in an empty universe, naturally explaining dark energy and inflation, consistent with observations and involving novel quantum gravity solutions.

Contribution

It introduces a new quantum gravity framework where gravitons and classical waves form a de Sitter state, explaining dark energy and inflation without matter.

Findings

De Sitter state arises from gravitons and classical waves in quantum and classical cases.

The theory matches observational data on CMB anisotropy and equation-of-state parameters.

Provides a solution to the coincidence problem through topological barriers.

Abstract

The empty space (with no matter fields) is not really empty because of natural metric fluctuations, quantum and classical. We show that gravitons as well as classical gravitational waves of super-horizon wavelengths are able to form the de Sitter state of the empty homogeneous isotropic Universe. This state is the exact solution to the self-consistent equations of one-loop quantum gravity for gravitons in the empty FLRW space. It also is the exact solution to the self-consistent equations of back reaction for classical gravitational waves. Technically, to get this de Sitter solution in both quantum and classical cases, it is necessary to make the transition to imaginary time and then come back to real time which is possible because this de Sitter state is invariant with respect to Wick rotation. Such a procedure means that the time was used as a complex variable, and this fact has a deep but still not understood meaning. De Sitter accelerated expansion of the empty Universe naturally explains the origin of dark energy and inflation because the Universe is empty at the start and by the end of its evolution. This theory is consistent with the existing observational data. The CMB anisotropy of the order of 10^-5 is produced by fluctuations in the number of gravitons. The existence of a threshold and unique coincidence of topologically impenetrable barriers for tunneling takes place for the matter-dominated epoch and De Sitter State only. These facts provide a solution to the coincidence problem. The theoretical prediction that the equation-of-state parameter should be w>-1 for inflation and w<-1 for dark energy is consistent with observational data. To provide the reader with a complete picture, this paper gather together new and some published results of the graviton theory of the origin of inflation and dark energy