Tunnelling-induced cosmic bounce in the presence of anisotropies

TL;DR

This paper investigates how quantum tunnelling effects in a finite, closed universe with anisotropies can lead to a cosmological bounce, extending previous models to include anisotropic conditions.

Contribution

It introduces a criterion for a successful cosmological bounce considering anisotropies and finite volume effects in quantum cosmology.

Findings

Finite volume effects can support a cosmological bounce.

Anisotropies influence the conditions for a bounce.

A specific criterion for bounce viability is identified.

Abstract

If we imagine rewinding the universe to early times, the scale factor shrinks and the existence of a finite spatial volume may play a role in quantum tunnelling effects in a closed universe. It has recently been shown that such finite volume effects dynamically generate an effective equation of state that could support a cosmological bounce. In this work we extend the analysis to the case in which a (homogeneous) anisotropy is present, and identify a criteria for a successful bounce in terms of the size of the closed universe and the properties of the quantum field.