Primordial gravitational waves in a quantum model of big bounce

TL;DR

This paper develops a quantum model of gravitational waves in a bouncing universe, removing the classical singularity and predicting a primordial power spectrum consistent with observational data.

Contribution

It introduces a novel quantum cosmological model with two phase space symmetries, demonstrating a bounce and analyzing gravitational wave dynamics across it.

Findings

Singularity replaced by a quantum bounce.

Consistent gravitational wave dynamics across the bounce.

Constraints on the model from LIGO and Planck data.

Abstract

We quantise and solve the dynamics of gravitational waves in a quantum Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker spacetime filled with perfect fluid. The classical model is formulated canonically. The Hamiltonian constraint is de-parametrised by setting a fluid variable as the internal clock. The obtained reduced (i.e. physical) phase space is then quantised. Our quantisation procedure is implemented in accordance with two different phase space symmetries, namely, the Weyl-Heisenberg symmetry for the perturbation variables, and the affine symmetry for the background variables. As an appealing outcome, the initial singularity is removed and replaced with a quantum bounce. The quantum model depends on a free parameter that is naturally induced from quantisation and determines the scale of the bounce. We study the dynamics of the quantised gravitational waves across the bounce through three different methods ("thin-horizon", analytical and numerical) which give consistent results and we determine the primordial power spectrum for the case of radiation-dominated universe. Next, we use the instantaneous radiation-matter transition transfer function to make approximate predictions for late universe and constrain our model with LIGO and Planck data. We also give an estimate of the quantum uncertainties in the present-day universe.